Black, Hispanic Patients More Likely To Be Taken To Safety-Net Hospitals Instead Of Closest Facility In Case Of Emergency
While ambulances are normally supposed to take emergency patients to the closest facility that offers that right kind of care, a new study finds that when it comes to minority patients that's not always the case. One possible explanation: Patients or their families may choose to go to a more distant hospital because it’s where they go for routine primary care.
Stat:
In An Emergency, Where Ambulances Take Patients Differs By Race
Ambulance crews are generally supposed to take seriously ill patients to the closest hospital that offers the necessary emergency services, such as stroke or trauma care. However, new research shows that patients are sometimes transported somewhere else, and that their race may have something to do with it. A national study published in JAMA Network Open on Friday found there were differences in the emergency departments where patients were taken by emergency medical services, based on their race or ethnicity. (Corley, 9/6)
Modern Healthcare:
Racial Differences Found In Where Ambulances Take Patients
In first-of-its-kind research, a new study examining emergency medical service transportation patterns found black and Hispanic patients were less likely to be transported to ERs most frequented by white patients living in the same ZIP code; that's despite it often being the closest facility, which is what national guidelines suggest. But the study, published Friday in JAMA Network Open, found black and Hispanic patients more often were taken to safety-net hospital emergency departments than white patients living in the same ZIP code. (Johnson, 9/6)
US News & World Report:
Study Finds Racial Disparities In Emergency Medical Care
Though national guidelines mandate emergency medical services take a patient to the nearest available hospital emergency department, or ED, where that patient ends up "may not be guided primarily by proximity, even for patients with highly acute conditions," according to the study. "Even when transported from the same geographic area, we found consistent differences by race/ethnicity in ED destinations," according to the study. "In the largest cities, only 36.8% of EMS transports for black (patients) and 43.4% for Hispanic enrollees were to the most common destination for white enrollees." (Williams, 9/6)
