CA medical board to report physician race, languages spoken

A California law signed Sept. 29 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger requires the Medical Board of California to make publicly available the information it collects on state-licensed physicians' race and languages spoken. Eventually, the board wants to publish the information under individual physician profiles, reports American Medical News.

The board currently collects data on physician race and languages spoken on surveys to renew a medical license, but does not report the information on its Web site. The information was previously only available by written request.

Under the law, effective Jan. 1, 2007, physicians maintain the option to answer or leave blank the questions about their race and what languages they speak. The new law would make the data available by ZIP code, and as state-wide totals.

The legislation was supported by the California Medical Association, and ethnic organizations. The Latino Coalition for a Healthy California said 40% of Californians speak a language other than English at home, according to the report in the Oct. 23 issue of American Medical News, a publication of the American Medical Association.

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