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Racial Concordance and the Quality of Medical Care: Evidence from the Military

Author

Listed:
  • Michael D. Frakes
  • Jonathan Gruber

Abstract

One explanation for insufficient use of primary care in the U.S. is a lack of trust between patients and providers – particularly along racial lines. We assess the role of racial concordance between patients and medical providers in driving use of preventive care and the implications for patient outcomes. We use unique data from the Military Health System, where we observe providers as patients so that we can identify their race, and where moves across bases change exposure to provider race. We consider patients with four chronic, deadly, but ultimately manageable illnesses, where the relationship with the provider may have the most direct and important impact on health. We find striking evidence that racial concordance leads to improved maintenance of preventive care – and ultimately lower patient mortality. Pooling across these diseases, we estimate that a one-standard deviation increase in the share of providers who are Black leads to a 15% relative decline in Black mortality among those with these manageable illnesses. Our results further suggest that between 55 and 69% of this mortality impact arises through improved medication use and adherence, with other aspects of the provider-patient relationship accounting for the residual.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael D. Frakes & Jonathan Gruber, 2022. "Racial Concordance and the Quality of Medical Care: Evidence from the Military," NBER Working Papers 30767, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30767
    Note: CH EH LS PE
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    Cited by:

    1. Francisco Gallego & Philip Oreopoulos & Noah Spencer, 2023. "The Importance of a Helping Hand in Education and in Life," Documentos de Trabajo 575, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    2. Hill, Andrew J. & Jones, Daniel B. & Woodworth, Lindsey, 2023. "Physician-patient race-match reduces patient mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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