Minoritized Family Medicine Physicians Provide the Largest Proportion of Care to Vulnerable Populations

Context: Though physicians from racial and ethnic minoritized groups comprise less of the physician workforce, from the perspective of Family Medicine, Family Medicine physicians who identify as racially and/or ethnically underrepresented minorities are more likely to provide care for vulnerable populations. To our knowledge, however, no study has examined whether this finding remains true with regard to race and/or ethnicity and sex.

Objective: To study whether Family Medicine physicians who identify as underrepresented minorities regarding race and/or ethnicity and sex are more likely to provide care for vulnerable populations

Study Design and Analysis: Cross-sectional study

Setting or Dataset: The 2016 to 2019 American Board of Family Medicine Family Medicine Continued Certification Demographic and Practice Exam Registration Questionnaire

Population Studied: Family Medicine Physicians

Intervention/Instrument: None

Outcome Measures: Odds Ratio

Results: Regarding sex, providers who identified as male had greater odds of caring for a population that is < 10% vulnerable whereas providers who identified as female had greater odds of caring for a population that is > 50% vulnerable. Regarding race and/or ethnicity, all providers except those who identified as white had greater odds of caring for a population that is > 50% vulnerable. Upon examining sex and/or ethnicity and race, individuals who identify as Black or African American and male had the greatest odds of caring for a population that is > 50% vulnerable followed by individuals who identify as Black or African American and female followed by individuals who identify as Hispanic or Latino and male followed by individuals who identify as Hispanic or Latino and female.

Conclusions: The study corroborates previous data that has found that Family Medicine Physicians who are racially and/or ethnically underrepresented in medicine provide the largest proportion of care to vulnerable populations