Physicians get higher ratings from patients of same ethnicity/race

A study of Press Ganey surveys found that patients gave higher scores to their physicians if they shared the same race/ethnicity. Eighty-eight percent of physicians received the maximum rating on the patient experience survey from patients of the same race/ethnicity. This was compared to 82% receiving the maximum rating from patients of a different race/ethnicity.

For the study, nearly 118,000 Press Ganey surveys were evaluated. They came from outpatient visits within the University of Pennsylvania Health System from 2014-2017. Race/ethnicity was categorized as White, Black, Asian, or Hispanic. The primary outcome was derived from the score for the item, “Likelihood of your recommending this care provider to others” in the care provider domain of the Press Ganey survey.  

Among White patients, Asian physicians had lower odds of receiving the maximum score compared with White physicians; Black physicians also had lower odds of receiving the maximum score vs White physicians but the difference was not significant. The likelihood of receiving the maximum score was similar between Hispanic and White physicians. 

Among Black patients, White and Asian physicians were each less likely to receive the maximum score compared with Black physicians. 

The study also looked at whether concordant gender between physician-patient affected Press Ganey scores. It found this was not a factor in how patients rated physicians. Overall, 86% of physicians in gender-concordant patient-physician encounters received the maximum score, compared with 85% of physicians in gender-discordant patient-physician encounters.

Source: JAMA Network