COVID-19 Risks and Impacts Among Health Care Workers by Race/Ethnicity

This analysis is based on KFF analysis of the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS), 1-year file. The ACS includes a 1% sample of the US population, the subset used here includes over 170,000 observations. The health care industry is defined as industry codes 7970 through 8290, and does not include the childcare or vocational training industries. For more information see here.

Industry Classification
Industry Code	Title	Classification
7970	Offices of physicians	Offices of physicians
7980	Offices of dentists	Other Outpatient
7990	Offices of chiropractors	Other Outpatient
8070	Offices of optometrists	Other Outpatient
8080	Offices of other health practitioners	Other Outpatient
8090	Outpatient care centers	Outpatient care centers
8170	Home health care services	Home health care services
8180	Other health care services	Home health care services
8191	Hospital	General or MH Hospital
8192	Psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals	General or MH Hospital
8270	Skilled nursing facilities	SNF & Care Facility
8290	Residential care facilities	SNF & Care Facility

We define the healthcare workforce as all individuals who earned at least $1,000 during the year and indicated that their job was in one of the industry codes listed above. Within these industry groups, we grouped people’s occupations into five different categories based on type of work and level of contact with patients:

• Aides and personal care workers includes certified nursing assistants (CNAs), personal care aides, home health aides, licensed practical nurses (LPNs), OT and PT assistants, medical assistants, and other aides.
• Direct contact support workers includes non-clinical support staff, such as housekeeping and janitorial staff, kitchen and cafeteria staff, recreation workers, laundry workers, security guards, shuttle drivers, clergy, and first-line supervisors of support workers.
• Health care providers includes registered nurses (RNs), physicians, dental assistants, physician therapists, occupational therapists, nurse practitioners, dentist, radiologist, phlebotomists, and various types of technicians that provide direct patient care.
• Other support workers and managers includes office and administrative managers and staff, receptionists, nutritionists, laboratory technicians, office clerks, billing clerks, medical records specialist, human resources, groundskeeping and facilities workers, who are likely to come into regular direct contact with patients less often than other types of health care workers.
• Social Workers and Behavioral health workers includes health professions such as Social workers, Mental health counselors and substance abuse counselors

Note, that this analysis only includes those in the healthcare industry, therefore healthcare professionals working in other care settings, such as school nurses are not included.