Black patients may face disparities in doctor-patient email communication, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. Researchers from Boston Medical Center examined responses to over 39,000 patient portal messages sent to the hospital’s primary care providers in 2021.
The study found that while response rates from all provider types, including nurses and physicians-in-training, were similar across racial groups, attending physicians were less likely to respond to messages from Black patients compared to white patients. Black patients were 3.95 percentage points less likely to receive a response from an attending physician, despite making up a majority of the study sample.
Hispanic and Asian patients also experienced lower response rates from attending physicians, at 2.32 and 2.11 percentage points less than white patients, respectively. Researchers suggest that these disparities may arise from nurses forwarding fewer messages from minority patients to doctors during the triage process, potentially due to implicit bias or differences in message content.
The study’s authors note that the findings are limited to a single academic health center and may not be generalizable. However, they emphasize the importance of examining how technology, such as patient portals, may contribute to healthcare disparities. Boston Medical Center did not respond to requests for comment on the study’s findings.
“Doctors less likely to respond to Black patients’ emails, study suggests” (March 21, 2024)
