Study: Ethnic bias not seen in care for same condition

As we've detailed here in the past, disparities in care between whites and ethnic minorities continue to exist throughout the U.S. However, there's at least one area where whites and minorities seem to fare equally in quality of care--though oddly enough, outcomes seem to be worse--according to a new study appearing in the March/April edition of the journal Health Affairs. It appears that when they're being treated in a hospital for the same condition, or getting the same procedure, care for whites and minorities is about equal.

The study drew on state patient discharge data from 13 states from 2000 to 2003, plus data from Pennsylvania and Texas public health authorities and the AHRQ's Healthcare Cost and Utilization project. When researchers crunched the numbers, they found that there were indeed racial disparities in the overall rates of mortality and adverse events for patients, but no major differences in the quality of care between whites and minorities.

To get more data from the study:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

Related Articles:
Study: Hispanics get lower-quality medical care. Report
CMS hopes to close Medicare race, ethnicity gap. Report
Study: 'Medical homes' cut racial care disparities. Report
Racial disparities persist in health outcomes. Report

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