Minorities Less Likely to Receive Care at High-Volume Hospitals

Abstract

TUESDAY, Oct. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Race matters, at least when it comes to medical care received in big hospitals and Medicare managed-care plans. Two studies in the Oct. 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found that racial minorities generally received lower quality care than whites or had less access to better care. According to the first paper, black, Asian and Hispanic patients, as well as uninsured patients, were less likely to undergo complex surgery at high-volume hospitals that specialize in that type of surgery. These hospitals are thought to produce better results because they perform so many of the procedures.