Table 1.
Characteristics of Physicians Who Often, Ever, and Never Use Interpreters when Working with Patients who Have Limited English Proficiency
| Often use professional interpreters when working with patients who have limited English proficiency * | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | P value | |
| Weighted, N (%) | 80,717 (29.5) | 193,079 (70.5) | |
| Physician characteristics, weighted % | |||
| Age | |||
| Under 50 | 38.5 | 61.5 | 0.06 |
| ≥ 50 years | 24.8 | 75.2 | |
| Sex | |||
| Female | 39.3 | 60.7 | 0.02 |
| Male | 24.5 | 75.5 | |
| Race/ethnicity † | |||
| White | 33.2 | 66.8 | 0.36 |
| Latino/Hispanic | 27.8 | 72.2 | |
| Other ‡ | 20.4 | 79.6 | |
| Did not answer | 30.4 | 69.6 | |
| Multilingual | |||
| Yes | 29.8 | 70.2 | 0.94 |
| No | 29.6 | 70.4 | |
| Did not answer | 24.6 | 75.4 | |
| Specialty | |||
| Primary care | 26.5 | 73.5 | 0.60 |
| Surgical specialty | 30.7 | 69.3 | |
| Medical specialty | 33.2 | 66.8 | |
| Practice characteristics, weighted % | |||
| Practice type | |||
| Solo or group practice | 21.2 | 78.8 | < 0.001 |
| Healthcare organizations § | 47.8 | 52.2 | |
| Region | |||
| Northeast | 28.7 | 17.1 | 0.97 |
| Midwest | 32.2 | 67.8 | |
| South | 29.5 | 70.5 | |
| West | 27.8 | 72.2 | |
*Unweighted denominator of 365 respondents includes 340 respondents who completed the full National Physician CLAS survey and 25 partial respondents who completed the language portion of the National Physician CLAS survey
†We combined survey results on race and ethnicity into a combined race/ethnicity variable. Anyone who was categorized as “Yes, Hispanic, Latino/a, or Spanish origin” by the survey was considered “Latino/Hispanic” in our analyses. “White” respondents were those who were categorized as “white” and “No, Hispanic, Latino/a, or Spanish origin.” “Other” were those categorized as “other” and “No, Hispanic, Latino/a, or Spanish origin”
‡Other race, as grouped by the National Physician CLAS Survey, includes Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Other Asian, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, and Other Pacific Islander
§Healthcare organizations include freestanding clinics and urgent care centers, community health centers, non-federal government clinic, mental health center, family planning clinic, health maintenance organization or other prepaid practice, and academic medical center practices (faculty practice plans)