Access to Spanish-Speaking Physicians in California: Supply, Insurance, or Both

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Figure 1.
Spanish-speaking physicians by race/ethnicity in 13 urban California counties, 2001.

Table 1.

Characteristics of Spanish-Speaking Physicians in Study Sample

	Number of Physicians in Group Who Speak Spanish (Percent by Row Category)
Age
≤51 (n = 643)	194 (30)
>51 (n = 716)	189 (26)
Gender
Female (n = 297)	92 (31)
Male (n = 1062)	291 (27)
Race/Ethnicity^*
African American (n = 149)	39 (26)
Asian (n = 370)	52 (14)
Latino (n = 161)	150 (93)
Other (n = 30)	12 (40)
White (n = 602)	119 (20)
Education^†
US medical graduate (n = 1018)	259 (25)
International medical graduate (n = 341)	124 (36)
Practice Setting
Solo (n = 567)	165 (29)
Group practice (n = 472)	133 (28)
Group/staff model HMO (n = 256)	61 (24)
Clinic (n = 35)	12 (34)
Other (n = 27)	11 (41)
Board-Certified^‡
No (n = 194)	71 (37)
Yes (n = 1165)	312 (27)

* Significant at P < .0001.
† African American and Latino physicians were oversampled in the study. African Americans and Latinos each represent 4% of of the total physician population.
‡ Significant at P < .05.

Table 2.

Supply of Primary Care Physicians for All and Spanish-Speaking Patients in 13 Urban California Counties, 2001

	Number of Physician Equivalents	Number of Patients	Physician Equivalents/100,000 Patients	Number of Spanish-Speaking Physician Equivalents	Number of Spanish-Speaking Patients	Spanish-Speaking Physician Equivalents/100,000 Spanish-Speaking Patients
Total Population	18,469	26,410,765	70	4,802	3,285,237	146
Medicaid Population	2,142	4,637,316	46	605	1,266,041	48
Uninsured Population	536	3,569,883	15	314	919,866	34

Number of Medicaid physician equivalents = mean percentage of Medicaid patients in practice × total supply of physicians; number of Uninsured physician equivalents = mean percentage of uninsured patients in practice × total supply of physicians; number of Spanish-speaking Medicaid physician equivalents = mean percentage of Medicaid patients in practice of Spanish-speaking physicians × supply of Spanish-speaking physicians; number of Spanish-speaking uninsured physician equivalents = mean percentage of uninsured patients in practice of Spanish-speaking physicians × supply of Spanish-speaking physicians.

Table 3.

Supply of Specialist Physicians for All and Spanish-Speaking Patients in 13 Urban California Counties, 2001

	Number of Physician Equivalents	Number of Patients	Physician Equivalents/ 100,000 Patients	Number of Spanish-Speaking Physician Equivalents	Number of Spanish-Speaking Patients	Spanish-Speaking Physician Equivalents/100,000 Spanish-Speaking Patients
Total Population	9,910	26,410,765	37	2,180	3,285,237	66
Medicaid Population	961	4,637,316	21	369	1,266,041	29
Uninsured Population	218	3,569,883	6	34	919,866	4

Number of Medicaid physician equivalents = mean percentage of Medicaid patients in practice × total supply of physicians; number of Uninsured physician equivalents = mean percentage of uninsured patients in practice × total supply of physicians; number of Spanish-speaking Medicaid physician equivalents = mean percentage of Medicaid patients in practice of Spanish-speaking physicians × supply of Spanish-speaking physicians; number of Spanish-speaking uninsured physician equivalents = mean percentage of uninsured patients in practice of Spanish-speaking physicians × supply of Spanish-speaking physicians.