Is Patient-Physician Gender Concordance Related to the Quality of Patient Care Experiences?

BACKGROUND:There is great interest in identifying factors that are related to positive patient experiences such as physician communication style. Documented gender-specific physician communication and patient behavior differences raise the question of whether gender concordant relationships (i.e., both the provider and patient share the same gender) might affect patient experiences. OBJECTIVE:Assess whether patient experiences are more positive in gender concordant primary care relationships. DESIGN:Statewide telephone surveys. Linear mixed regression models to estimate the association of CAHPS scores with patient gender and gender concordance. SUBJECTS:Two probability samples of primary care Medicaid patients in Connecticut in 2017 (5/17-7/17) and 2019 (7/19-10/19). MAIN MEASURES:Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG-CAHPS) survey augmented with questions about aspects of care most salient to PCMH-designated organizations and two questions to assess access to mental health services. KEY RESULTS:There were no significant effects of gender concordance and differences in experiences by patient gender were modest. CONCLUSIONS:This study did not support the suggestion that patient and physician gender and gender concordance have an important effect on patient experiences.