Too Few Minorities in Health Care, U.S. Study Finds

• Combined Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans make up only 6% of all Doctors

The United States needs more black, Hispanic and American Indian doctors and nurses if minorities have any hope of catching up to whites in terms of the quality and accessibility of health care, a special commission said on Monday. While blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans make up more than 25 percent of the U.S. population, they represent only 9 percent of the nation's nurses, 6 percent of doctors and 5 percent of dentists, the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Health Workforce said. "Access to health professions remains largely separate and unequal," said Dr. Louis Sullivan, a former U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, who chaired the privately funded commission that includes health, business and education officials. "We know that minority physicians, dentists and nurses are more likely to serve minority and medically underserved populations, yet there is a severe shortage of minorities in the health professions. Without much more diversity in the health workforce, minorities will continue to suffer," Sullivan added in a statement. Many studies have shown clear disparities in health care in the United States. [more ]