Trends in Hospital Procedures Performed on Black Patients and White Patients: 1980-87

摘要

Previous research has identified significant differences in the performance of medical procedures among racial groups. However, most of these studies have been limited to populations from individual institutions, single States, or single payers, or they report on a restricted range of procedures. This study compares rates of all diagnostic and therapeutic procedures received by black patients and white patients discharged from a national sample of hospitals, using data from the Hospital Cost and Utilization Project. A total of 4.7 million discharges with at least one procedure were studied. On the average, each discharge had 2.3 procedures. All procedures listed on the discharge abstract were classified into 1 of 172 mutually exclusive procedure categories using the Clinical Classifications for Health Policy Research. Discharges were weighted to the national standardization. A number of differences between black patients and white patients observed in this study are similar to those reported in the literature; other differences identify variations not previously described. Because discharge-level data do not allow for control of alternative explanations of racial differences in procedure rates, such as differences in health status, access to health services and quality of facilities and providers, the apparent differences identified here should be verified through more focused research.