Is type of practice setting associated with physician’s cultural competency training? Analysis from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey

This study examined whether type of physician practice settings was associated with cultural competency training for newly hired physicians. We used data from the 2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey Supplement on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services for Office-based Physician Survey. The survey contains a sample of 397 office-based physician responses completed during the period from August to December 2016 (weighted n = 293306). The outcome variable was whether cultural competency training was required for newly hired physicians. The primary predictor variable was type of physician practice settings. We used logistic regression to analyze the association between physician practice settings and cultural competency training for newly hired physicians adjusting for covariates. About 71% physicians belonged to solo or group practice settings. Among these, only 10.4% required cultural competency training for newly hired physicians. Among other practice settings, 34.8% required the training. Results from logistic regression showed that newly hired physicians in solo or group practices (adjusted odds ratio: 0.22; 95% confidence interval: 0.11–0.44) were less likely to have cultural competency training compared to those in other settings. Practice settings are associated with cultural competency training. Cultural competency training across all practice settings may contribute toward improving patient–physician communication, reducing health disparities, and increasing patient satisfaction.