In this brief, we provide an overview of the extent of adults’ preferences for racially concordant health care providers, racial concordance with their usual health care providers, and difficulty finding racially concordant providers. We also describe key takeaways from a literature scan on racial and ethnic patient-provider concordance.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Having access to a provider who shares their race or ethnicity (i.e., a racially/ethnically concordant provider) can create positive health care experiences for patients of color through improved trust and satisfaction with care received, and these patients tend to fare better when they receive care from diverse health care teams. However, people from racial and ethnic groups who are deeply affected by health inequities, such as Black and Hispanic people, are underrepresented in the health care provider workforce. Diversifying the health care workforce could be part of a broader comprehensive strategy to build a health care system that provides equitable and high-quality care to all patients regardless of their background and that improves patients’ choice of providers so that they can find providers that comport with their preferences.

WHAT WE FOUND

• Although the current evidence base is not definitive, a growing number of studies show positive associations of racial/ethnic concordance between patients and their providers with certain health care and health outcomes, with few studies finding no effect and even fewer finding a negative association.
• Black adults were over four times more likely than white adults to report preferring a racially concordant provider (32 percent versus 7 percent). Adults who are Asian, Hispanic, and of additional races also reported preferring a racially concordant provider at rates higher than white adults (20 percent, 29 percent, and 12 percent compared with 7 percent).
• White adults were over four times more likely than Black adults to report having a racially concordant provider (76 percent versus 18 percent). Asian adults (28 percent), Hispanic adults (38 percent), and adults of additional races (37 percent) were also less likely than white adults to be racially concordant with their usual providers.
• Nonwhite adults had a harder time finding a racially concordant provider than white adults.
• Adults who anticipated future unfair treatment in health care settings were much more likely than other adults to prefer a racially concordant provider.

HOW WE DID IT

We used the Urban Institute’s 2022 Health Reform Monitoring Survey, a nationally representative survey of 9,484 adults ages 18 to 64 examining health care coverage, access, and other health topics. We estimated the share of adults with a usual provider who reported their provider is the same race as them. We also estimated the share of adults who reported that having a same-race provider is “very” or “somewhat” difficult for them and the share of adults who report it “very” or “somewhat” important to have providers who are the same race as them. Finally, we determined how concern about being treated unfairly because of race, ethnicity, or primary language in health care settings in the future is related to preferring a same-race provider.