Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Black Americans More Likely To Be Admitted To Less Safe Hospitals
Modern Healthcare: Black Patients Have Worse Safety Outcomes, Receive Care In Less Safe Hospitals
Black Americans are more likely to receive care in hospitals with worst patient safety outcomes than white Americans, and also experience more adverse events after a surgery, according to new research. The Urban Institute study released Monday found Black patients were significantly less likely to be admitted into hospitals classified as "high quality," which was defined as hospitals that had better rates of safety than the median total on each quality measure. For instance, Black patients were 25.5% less likely than white patients to receive care in a hospital effective at preventing postoperative respiratory failure, and 41.7% less likely than white patients to be admitted to a hospital that was effective at preventing perioperative pulmonary embolisms. (Gillespie, 3/29)
NPR: Racial Equity In Vaccination? Dialysis Centers Can Help With That
Frankie Shaw was diabetic by age 22, had a stroke at 35, and for the last five years has been on dialysis, a grueling treatment regime that requires either multiple visits to a clinic each week or hours a day, multiple days a week on a home machine. Over the past year, fear of COVID-19 dogged Shaw, who's now 44 and a retail store manager. Friends died; her twin brother was recently hospitalized with it and still has difficulty breathing. That terrified Shaw, who also has hypertension. "Just imagine if I had COVID, or if I didn't have anything to help boost my immune system to help fight it off? "Shaw's situation is pretty typical of the 550,000 people in the U.S. on dialysis. (Noguchi, 3/30)
Scientific American: Racial Disparities Have Been Found In Screening For Postpartum Mood Disorders
Imagine giving birth and caring for a newborn without support. During the coronavirus pandemic, mothers are doing exactly this amid changing hospital policies and social distancing guidelines. The experience is even more harrowing for women of color, particularly non-Hispanic Black women, who are more than three times as likely to experience maternal death as compared with non-Hispanic white women. (Iyer, 3/30)
