Running the Numbers: Does North Carolina's Health Care Workforce Reflect the Diversity of the State's Population?

ncmedicaljournal.com 141 In 2002, the National Academy of Medicine released the report Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, which highlighted disparities in health services received by racial and ethnic minorities in the United States and called for strategies to increase the proportion of underrepresented minorities in the health care workforce [1]. Since then, attention has focused on diversifying the health care workforce to improve patient outcomes, reduce disparities, and ensure equity in opportunity to enter the health care workforce [2-5]. Despite these efforts, health workforce diversity continues to lag behind the diversity of the population. Data released by the Association of American Medical Colleges showed that 2015 set a new record for the largest number of students enrolled in medical school [6], yet fewer black males entered medical school in 2015 than in 1978 [7]. This column provides an overview of how the racial and ethnic diversity of North Carolina’s population compares to that of its health professionals, particularly physicians.