Do minority patients use lower quality hospitals?

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Health Equity
• Quality of Care

Background:

• Concerns exist regarding potential disparities in hospital quality experienced by minority patient populations.
• Previous research has yielded mixed findings on whether minority patients access lower-quality healthcare facilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between the proportion of minority patients (Black, Hispanic, Asian) and the quality of hospitals they utilized.
• To determine if generalizations about minority patients accessing lower-quality hospitals are accurate.

Main Methods:

• Utilized three years of inpatient discharge data from 11 U.S. states.
• Employed patient safety and inpatient quality indicators from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
• Analyzed the correlation between minority patient share and various hospital quality metrics.

Main Results:

• The association between minority patient volume and hospital quality was dependent on the specific quality measure used.
• Hospitals serving Hispanic patients generally performed well on most patient safety indicators.
• Increased percentages of Black, Hispanic, and Asian patients were linked to lower quality in only one specific measure: postoperative sepsis.

Conclusions:

• It is inaccurate to broadly assert that minority patients exclusively utilize lower-quality hospitals.
• Healthcare analysts and policymakers must exercise caution against overgeneralizing hospital service quality for minority patient populations.
• Quality of care for minority patients is nuanced and varies significantly by demographic group and quality metric.