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Hospitals in the US have a ways to go when it comes to ensuring racial inclusivity—or serving more patients of color—according to a new report that compared Medicare patient demographics in facilities to their surrounding communities.
The Lown Institute—a Massachusetts-based healthcare think tank—used 2021 Medicare data to analyze and rank how well 3,000+ hospitals served non-white patients. Analysts gave just 3% of those facilities a five-star rating—the highest score—and 6% received the lowest rank of a one-star rating.
The report marks Lown’s fourth racial inclusivity analysis, and it’s the first time the think tank has used Medicare Advantage data along with traditional Medicare claims. Racial inclusivity scores were calculated using the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey data and reflect how well a facility’s patient population compares to the people it could serve in its community area.
“If hospitals really want to undo structural racism’s hold on their communities, they can’t be bystanders,” Lown Institute President Vikas Saini said in a statement. “They need to act more systematically and with more intention.”
Boston Medical Center topped Lown’s list of most racially inclusive hospitals, followed by Chicago’s John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital and UChicago Medicine, Philadelphia’s Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and Nashville General Hospital.
Lown ranked Florida’s Mariners Hospital, Illinois’s Alton Memorial Hospital, California’s MarinHealth Medical Center, Illinois’s Gateway Regional Medical Center, and Indiana’s Harrison County Hospital among the five worst for racial inclusivity.
Some of the hospitals receiving Lown’s highest and lowest marks are located in the same city, “reflecting segregation in the healthcare market,” according to the report. That segregation is particularly noteworthy in New Orleans, where half of the city’s 14 hospitals ranked among the most (2) or least inclusive (5).
St. Louis, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia rounded out Lown’s list for the top five most segregated hospital markets (or where at least 20% of hospitals were at either extreme in the rankings).
Racial disparities in life expectancy are also common in many of the cities Lown found to have segregated hospital markets, the report noted. Black St. Louis residents, for example, live about nine years less than their white counterparts.