An analysis of nearly 2,200 elderly Medicare patients in three states showed that African-American patients received poorer care than patients of other races for heart failure and pneumonia, the two most common causes of hospitalization under Medicare. Similarly, African-American patients with pneumonia were less likely to have had their blood cultures collected on the first or second day of hospitalization. Both procedures have been associated with reduced death rates from pneumonia. Ayanian and his co-authors estimated that the disparities in treatment may have resulted in one additional death among every 200 patients treated. I mean, pneumonia is probably one of the most common things that physicians see, and if we offer different approaches based on race to even this common illness, it makes the concern more acute and pressing.
Researchers believe it is still too soon to say.
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