Oct. 1 is National Latino Physicians Day - Highlighting the Critical Shortage of Latino and Latina Physicians across the United States

The Latinx Physicians of California are honored to join partner organizations across our state in support of National Latino Physicians Day - today, October 1, 2024!

Why are we helping organize support for NLPD?

In the United States less than 7% of all physicians are Latino or Latina, despite 19% of the U.S. population identifying as Latino. California and Texas have an even higher number of Latino’s, reaching 40% or more of the population, with future increases projected to be approximately 50% by the year 2050 in California. Across the U.S., it is expected that 1 in 3 Americans will be of Latino descent by the year 2050.

In California, nearly one in two babies (48%) born are of Latino descent. There are significant health care barriers, inequalities, and poorer outcomes in the Latino/Latina/Latinx/Hispanic patient population.

The COVID pandemic has worsened existing inequalities and outcomes, adding urgency to the mission of improving Latino physician representation. For example, in California 70% of COVID and pregnancy related deaths were in Latinas, highlighting the burden of the pandemic on generational health outcomes.

Furthermore, the lack of Latino physician representation provides additional barriers to culturally and linguistically concordant care, leading to worse healthcare outcomes. Less than one in four Latino adults reported sharing a racial, ethnic, or language background with their physician.

In response to these disparities, an inclusive grassroots movement aimed to raise awareness regarding the critical shortage of Latino Physicians has been undertaken by Latino and Latina attending physicians, resident physicians, medical students and premedical students across the

U.S. “National Latino Physician Day” (NLPD) which was first celebrated on October 1st, 2022, and gained significant traction resulting in a even larger event the following year. Again, on October 1st, 2024, this effort will be undertaken with sponsorship of national non-profit organizations and medical societies celebrating multiple virtual and live events.

A strategic aim of NLPD is to help create the narrative of the crisis regarding the lack of community and physician workforce ethnic/racial and cultural concordance. Evidence shows that cultural and linguistic concordance leads to better patient outcomes, and improved trust and communication between doctors and patients. Having Latinos better represented in medicine is necessary for the Latino community and for the future of medicine in the United States.