A recent report finds that hospitals with higher scores on the Lown Hospitals Index equity metrics also perform worse on certain preventable outcomes and patient safety metrics. More
The United States has the worst maternal mortality rate amongst high-income nations - and it’s getting worse. More
What drives hospital segregation and how can we combat this trend? More
Can doctors "prescribe" social supports like financial assistance to improve health? More
In St. Louis and Kansas City, the vast majority of their hospitals land at the extremes of our inclusivity scale,” said Vikas Saini. “Some are super over-serving, if you will, black and Hispanic and poor populations, and others are really under-serving, and there are not many that are kind of in the middle.” Saini said in order to have fair, quality and equitable health care for everybody, we have to change the way we organize and pay for hospital care. “It can’t be this kind of market competition, revenue-seeking model,” he said. Saini said he dreams of a health care system where hospitals are given a budget to care for an entire community, rather than on a patient-by-patient basis. More
A new report found that hospitals in 15 large U.S. cities — led by Detroit and St. Louis — were highly segregated, but care for COVID-19 was more equitable. “Hospitals deserve praise for stepping up to the plate and being more inclusive during COVID, but we need them to be more inclusive all the time,” said Saini in a statement. More
Some 50 percent of hospitals in the United States are racially segregated, meaning the patient populations they serve do not reflect the demographics of their communities, according to the latest analysis from healthcare thinktank Lown Institute which was emailed to journalists. This imperils national efforts for addressing health equity. More
Lown Institute Analysis Shows Hospitals Are More Equitable When Caring for COVID Patients. More