Larger Differences in Physician-to-Patient Ratios among Racial Groups Worsen Outcomes on Preventable Diseases
Hyeyeong Kim & Jinhyung Lee
What the paper says
We examine the impact of difference of physician-to-patient ratios on preventable diseases because the unequal distribution of physicians among different racial groups in society will limit patients’ choices and may lead to unequal outcomes. We applied a generalized linear model (GLM) with log link and poisson distribution with multiple a California County level data in 2015. Findings show the difference of physician-to-patient ratios among racial groups play a significant role in patient outcomes. We found that the larger inequality measured as the difference of physician-to-patient ratios among racial groups is positively associated with the number of discharged patients. The larger gap of physician-to-patient ratios among racial groups may limit physician choice and worsen the patient outcomes. Thus, health policy makers should incentivize counties to hire more physicians when they have large differences in physician-to-patient ratios among different racial groups.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.00 × 0.4 = 0.00 |
| M · momentum | 0.20 × 0.15 = 0.03 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.