Asian-American patient ratings of physician primary care performance.
OBJECTIVE
To examine how Asian-American patients' ratings of primary care performance differ from those of whites. Latinos, and African-Americans.


METHODS
Retrospective analyses of data collected in a cross-sectional study using patient questionnaires.


METHODS
University hospital primary care group practice.


METHODS
In phase 1, successive patients who visited the study site for appointments were asked to complete the survey. In phase 2, successive patients were selected who had most recently visited each physician, going back as far as necessary to obtain 20 patients for each physician. In total, 502 patients were surveyed, 5% of whom were Asian-American.


RESULTS
After adjusting for potential confounders, Asian-Americans rated overall satisfaction and 10 of 11 scales assessing primary care significantly lower than whites did. Dimensions of primary care that were assessed include access, comprehensiveness of care, integration, continuity, clinical quality, interpersonal treatment, and trust. There were no differences for the scale of longitudinal continuity. On average, the rating scale scores of Asian-Americans were 12 points lower than those of whites (on 100-point scales).


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that Asian-American patients rate physicians primary care performance lower than do whites, African-Americans, and Latinos. Future research needs to focus on Asian-Americans to determine the generalizability of these findings and the extent to which they reflect differences in survey response tendencies or actual quality differences.
Taira
D A
DA
Health Institute, New England Medical Center, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
Safran
D G
DG
Seto
T B
TB
Rogers
W H
WH
Kosinski
M
M
Ware
J E
JE
Lieberman
N
N
Tarlov
A R
AR
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000592:standards; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001900:Boston; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005194:Family Practice / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000208:ethnology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D044465:White People