Bay Area Physician Groups Attempt To Attract Asian-American Patients

Some Bay area physician groups have launched marketing campaigns to attract Asian-American patients, the region's fastest-growing demographic group, the San Jose Mercury News reports. For example, Santa Clara County Individual Practice Association, a network of more than 700 independent physicians, recently began running advertisements in English, Vietnamese and Chinese that feature the faces and names of the group's 233 Asian-American physicians. In addition, Dr. Ngai Nguyen, president of Premier Care -- a 100-physician network made up entirely of Vietnamese- and Chinese-American doctors -- regularly hosts health-related programs on Vietnamese radio stations. SCCIPA President Dr. Larry Bonham said, "We realized years ago that the Asian community, Chinese and Vietnamese Americans in particular, was growing and that we would have to do things differently" (Kang, San Jose Mercury News, 12/1).