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Across US Hospitals, Black Patients Report Comparable Or Better Experiences Than White Patients

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: Patient-reported experience is a critical part of measuring health care quality. There are limited data on racial differences in patient experience. Using patient-level data for 2009-10 from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), we compared blacks' and whites' responses on measures of overall hospital rating, communication, clinical processes, and hospital environment. In unadjusted results, there were no substantive differences between blacks' and whites' ratings of hospitals. Blacks were less likely to recommend hospitals but reported more positive experiences, compared to whites. Higher educational attainment and self-reported worse health status were associated with more negative evaluations in both races. Additionally, blacks rated minority-serving hospitals worse than other hospitals on all HCAHPS measures. Taken together, there were surprisingly few meaningful differences in patient experience between blacks and whites across US hospitals. Although blacks tend to receive care at worse-performing hospitals, compared to whites, within any given hospital black patients tend to report better experience than whites do.

Source: Health Affairs

DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2015.1426

Authors: José F. Figueroa, Jie Zheng, E. John Orav, Ashish K. Jha

Institutions: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University

Language: English

Topic: Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare

Subfield: General Health Professions

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities