Physicians, Physician Extenders and Health Outcomes: Race, Gender and Patient-Health Provider Concordance in North Carolina Medicaid.

BACKGROUND: No studies were found that consider the role of race and gender concordance in patient-physician extender relationships.

METHODS: A telephone survey in summer 2012 allowed measures of the relationship between physicians and physician extenders with race and gender concordance. Randomized stratified sampled adults (n = 1,401) enrolled in North Carolina Medicaid's managed care networks met the study's criteria.

FINDINGS: The analysis determined the association of provider type and race and gender concordance. It also explored the association of race and gender concordance with trust, satisfaction, and decision-making propensity. Separate logistic regression models were constructed for each dependent variable. Race concordance was associated with significantly higher trust scores among respondents in the physician subgroup when race was not included in the predictive model. However, in those models where race and gender were included as control variables, provider type was not associated with race and gender concordance in the logistic regressions.