Table 3.

Percentage of Black and White Primary Care Physicians Who Rated Factors of Major Importance in Choosing a Specialist

	Unadjusted Percent				*Adjusted Percent (95% CI)**
Factors	No.	White	Black	PValue	No.	Black	PValue
CI = conficence interval.
* Adjusted for sex, age, US vs international medical graduate status, board certification, practice setting, whether respondent almost always knows the name of the specialist, practice location, region.
Specialist characteristics
Medical skill	545	90.3	83.9	.03	510	88 (79–93)	.40
Board certification	549	40.5	25.4	>.01	514	29 (20–39)	.03
Practice characteristics
Appointment timeliness	549	51.5	60.4	.04	513	54 (44–64)	.63
Insurance coverage	550	49.8	49.4	.92	514	51 (41–62)	.80
Hospital affiliation	551	13.9	13.3	.84	515	14 (8–23)	.98
Primary care physician-specialist interaction
Primary care physician previous experience with specialist	552	65.0	51.9	<.01	516	55 (44–65)	.05
Specialist returns patient to primary care physician	550	47.3	56.0	.04	515	58 (47–68)	.05
Quality of communication	552	48.7	57.4	.04	516	53 (43–63)	.40
Primary care physician relationship with specialist	552	35.8	36.0	.97	516	35 (26–45)	.84
Attitudes of colleagues toward the specialist	553	16.4	12.0	.14	517	13 (8–21)	.37
Patient-specialist interaction
Likelihood of good patient-physician rapport	553	50.5	52.5	.64	517	54 (44–64)	.46
Patient preference for particular specialist	553	39.9	42.2	.59	517	47 (36–57)	.20
Patient convenience	551	17.4	32.0	<.01	515	26 (17–36)	.06
Office location	551	7.1	12.4	.04	515	12 (6–22)	.14