In the past, what has come to be common knowledge is that racial inequalities in medical care not only exist, but are substantial. Why do people of color tend to have less postive incomes then their white counterparts? Is it due to financial differences or is it something else. Well the studies show that it is not unfortuantely attributed to differences in income or education, but instead something completely different.
To put a reason for this disparity a group of researchers from Yale and the Urban Institute did a study of 133,000 patients who were treated for 10 specific surgeries in New York City and the surrounding burroughs from 2001 to 2004.
The results of the study which were just published on Monday found that across the board counting all 10 procedures, white patients were treated by better hospitals and surgeons (meaning that they came from higher volume facilities) then blacks, Asians, and Hispanic patients.
The final study showed that after averaging all procedures together white patients enjoyed better conditions in better facilites and by better staff in 37.6% of cases, while blacks only had this advantage in 20.6% of cases, 24% for Asians, and 26% for Hispanics.
These results show a consistent and identifable pattern of racism that is consistent for every group except for whites. Again, the study was able to prove that economic status does not play a part in the resulting less preferential treatment of minorities, which leaves the question of what is causing the difference.
An example that the study showed was that Asians were likely to be either without health insurance or on Medicaid, even though they came from better socioeconomic neighborhoods than the black patients.
So again why the disparity? The researchers have a couple of theories of course, but they are just that theories.
One theory was that white patients have better information from friends and families about hospitals and doctors. New York has tried to address this situation by publishing report cards on medical staff and hospitals. Since the inception of the program, black patients have seen an increase in the quality of surgeons for coronary artery disease but still less than whites.
The final theory, is that even though New York City is a melting pot, it also anchors one of the five most segregated metropolitan areas in the country, according to U.S. census data. On top of that, only 9.5% of surgeons and 22% of hospitals in the study were classified as “high-volume,” and those hospitals may be clustered in neighborhoods populated by whites, they wrote. (To test this theory, it would be useful to see whether white and minority patients treated in a given hospital were equally likely to be treated by a high-volume surgeon.)
