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Re-Shaping Patient Engagement in a Multicultural World
By: Abner Mason
An increasing multicultural divide between patients and the healthcare workforce can impede patient engagement and may lead to poor outcomes and higher costs.
1208120830 years ago, 86% of Americans identified as Caucasian. Today that number is 64% and by 2050 is expected to be 46%.
By 2050 the Census Bureau estimates that there will be no single racial/ethnic group that makes up the majority of the American population.
As a country, we’re not ready for these inevitable changes. As an industry, healthcare is headed for a potential 2050 disaster.
A recent AHRQ study finds that across 20 access-to-care measures, Hispanics (who will be 30% of the population in 2050) reported worse care than Caucasians for 75% of the measures. African Americans reported worse care than Caucasians for 50% of measures. While the Hispanic population hovers around 18% nationally (40% in California and 39% in Texas), and is predicted to grow significantly, only 5% of practicing physicians today identify as Latino. Even fewer- just 3.8% (as compared to the 13% of the total population) identify as African American.
