Racial and ethnic representation is a critical factor in fostering trust, communication, and overall effectiveness in the relationship between patients and their healthcare providers. Moreover, studies have demonstrated that racial and ethnic concordance can enhance patient safety and the overall quality of care. 

This report, which uses California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) regions, looks at 47 key licensed health professional categories to identify areas where certain racial or ethnic groups are underrepresented in key healthcare roles. Survey data were collected from 86.8% of all active licenses statewide, representing more than 1 million surveys and a Decline to State rate of 10.2% or less for each of the metrics used in this dataset.

Findings: 

• Hispanics are the most underrepresented group in the health workforce, at nearly 50% below the population average statewide. They are also underrepresented in all six workforce categories and all nine CHIS regions. This lack of representation is most severe within the Medicine workforce, where Hispanic licensees are underrepresented in all 58 counties. 
• Several groups in the health workforce are represented well above their population average statewide. Asian, non-Hispanic licensees are the most well represented at twice the population average, statewide, and are above population concordance in 56 counties across workforce categories. The majority of these licensees identify as Filipino (44.1%). 
• Representation among licensees varies greatly by age; while white, non-Hispanic licensees make up the majority of individuals aged 75 or older (74.5%), Hispanic licensees make up the largest proportion of individuals aged 18-30 (35.2%), followed by Asian, non-Hispanic (29.5%) then white, non-Hispanic (26.5%)