The effect of patient-provider communication on medication adherence in hypertensive black patients: Does race concordance matter?

Background Despite evidence of a positive effect of collaborative patient-provider communication on patient outcomes, our understanding of this relationship is unclear. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine whether racial composition of the relationship modified the association between ratings of provider communication and medication adherence. Methods Effect modification of the communication-adherence association, by racial composition of the relationship, was evaluated using general linear mixed models while adjusting for selected covariates. Results Three hundred ninety patients were in raceconcordant (black patient, black provider) relationships, while 207 were in race-discordant (black patient, white provider) relationships. The communication-adherence association was significantly modified in race-discordant relationships (p00.04). Communication rated as more collaborative in race-discordant relationships was associated with better adherence, while communication rated as less collaborative was associated with poor adherence. There was no significant association between adherence and communication in race-concordant relationships (p00.24). Conclusions Collaborative patient-provider communication may play an influential role in black patients' adherence behaviors when receiving care from white providers.