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Schedule Registration Housing |
| Friday, January 7, 2000 8:30-10:15 a.m. |
Maryland Suite A Marriott Wardman Park Hotel Lobby Level |
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Section on Law, Medicine and Health Care |
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| John D. Blum, Loyola University, Chicago, Chair | |
| Sidney D. Watson, Mercer University, Program Chair |
| Racism, Sexism and Access to Care: What Happens When Physicians Discriminate |
| Moderator: | |
| Kathleen M. Boozang, Seton Hall University | |
| Speakers: | |
| Richard Froh, Vice President, Government Relations,
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Washington, D.C.
Sylvia Drew Ivie, Executive Director, T.H.E. Clinic for Women, Los Angeles, California Sara Rosenbaum, Harold & Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law & Policy, The George Washington University Medical Center, and Director, Center for Health Services Research & Policy, Washington, D.C. Kevin A. Schulman, M.D., Director, Center for Clinical & Genetic Economics, and Associate Professor of Medicine, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina |
| Debate about the role of race and gender on access to health care has focused on structural and institutional issues that have a disproportionately adverse impact on women, racial and ethnic minorities. Evidence is mounting, however, that racism and sexism effect clinical decision making—physicians provide different, and less, care to women and minority patients. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine—the first to use actors as "testers"—concluded that primary care physicians order different—and less—treatment for women and African-Americans, with African-American women getting the least treatment. The author of that study, Dr. Schulman, will begin the program by discussing the study and responses to it. |
| The panelists will then examine the phenomenon of bias in physician decision-making. What do we know about race and sex bias that occurs outside public view, in the doctor's office? What more do we need to find out? How much more can we find out? Why are we comfortable talking about race and sex discrimination in the workplace, schools and housing, but uncomfortable discussing and teaching our students about health care discrimination? How effective are civil rights statutes in addressing discrimination that results from individual medical judgement? How might other legislative or administrative remedies be crafted that address bias in clinical decisions? Are such remedies politically viable? How might medical schools, medical groups, hospitals, and managed care organizations address and ameliorate bias? What does this evidence of bias mean for the organization of health care institutions, particularly in an era of increasing managed care? |
| Business Meeting at Program Conclusion |