Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This paper measures current patterns of hospital segregation among Medicare beneficiaries. METHODS: Data from the fiscal year 1993 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) file, the index of dissimilarity, and a linear regression model are used to test the effects of standard metropolitan area characteristics on hospital segregation. RESULTS: The overall hospital segregation index was 0.529, ranging by state from 0.154 to 0.746. Hospital segregation in 126 standard metropolitan areas was positively related to population size, hospital density, and residential segregation and negatively related to income inequities and location in the South. CONCLUSIONS: Racial segregation remains high and may produce both reporting biases and unequal effects of public policy.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Beardsley E. H. Good-bye to Jim Crow: the desegregation of Southern hospitals, 1945-70. Bull Hist Med. 1986 Fall;60(3):367–386. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- CORNELY P. B. Segregation and discrimination in medical care in the United States. Am J Public Health Nations Health. 1956 Sep;46(9):1074–1081. doi: 10.2105/ajph.46.9.1074. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gornick M. E., Eggers P. W., Reilly T. W., Mentnech R. M., Fitterman L. K., Kucken L. E., Vladeck B. C. Effects of race and income on mortality and use of services among Medicare beneficiaries. N Engl J Med. 1996 Sep 12;335(11):791–799. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199609123351106. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Halperin E. C. Desegregation of hospitals and medical societies in North Carolina. N Engl J Med. 1988 Jan 7;318(1):58–63. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198801073180127. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kahn K. L., Pearson M. L., Harrison E. R., Desmond K. A., Rogers W. H., Rubenstein L. V., Brook R. H., Keeler E. B. Health care for black and poor hospitalized Medicare patients. JAMA. 1994 Apr 20;271(15):1169–1174. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Smith D. B. Population ecology and the racial integration of hospitals and nursing homes in the United States. Milbank Q. 1990;68(4):561–596. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]