The analysis also found Medicare-insured residents who are Black experienced more hospitalizations that might have been avoidable if they'd had access to better preventative health care compared to similarly insured residents of other races.
While most hospitals served a smaller share of minority patients than was reflected in the racial and ethnic makeup of their surrounding community, some hospitals served a larger share.
At Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital, 82% of Medicare patients who underwent elective procedures were Black. In Dallas, where 17% of residents with Medicare are Black and 4% are Hispanic, 40% of patients treated at Parkland Health and Hospital System were Black and 16% were Hispanic.
“This is the work that we do,” said Shannon Sale, chief strategy officer at Grady Memorial Hospital. “The population that we serve has unique needs and higher barriers to accessing health care and we’ve worked for years to help them.”
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