Shortage of Black physicians: Florida Black medical student enrollment from 2013 to 2021

Abstract

On average, Black patients have substantially better health outcomes when they are under the care of Black physicians. The percentage of Black physicians in America has remained at approximately 5% for nearly half a century, even though Black people comprise 14% of the United States population. We used data from the Association of American Medical Colleges and Florida medical schools to examine two important research questions. First, we hypothesized that since the state of Florida has the twelfth largest percentage of Black residents, Florida medical schools enrolled a higher percentage of Black first-year students compared to the national average. We found that Florida medical schools that provided data enrolled a higher percentage of Black first-year students (13.5%) than the national average (9%), which supported our first hypothesis. Second, we hypothesized that the percentage of Black first-year medical students enrolled nationally was higher in 2021 compared to 2013, correlating with the emergence and rise of social justice movements, including Black Lives Matter. We found that the national average of enrolled Black first-year medical students was 6% in 2013 and 9% in 2021, which supported our second hypothesis. An increase in the percentage of Black medical students and physicians could help diminish race-based health and class inequity in America, leading to a significant increase in the health of many Black people.