Heart patients in wealthier
communities have a better chance of getting recommended
treatments at their local hospital than patients in
lower-income areas. Such are the findings of a
special Gannett News Service analysis of how frequently
U.S. hospitals gave recommenede treatments to patients
who had heart attacks and heart failure.
The research found that the best-performing hospitals
are much more concentrated in the nation's higher-income
counties. In counties ranking in the lowest 20%
for median household income, only 5% of the hospitals
were in the highest of five performance rankings for
heart attack patients. Nearly half of them fell
into the lowest category. In high-income counties,
one0quarter of the hospitals were top performers.
"Hospitals serving poor populations have very limited
resources and they simply cannot provide the
high-quality care delivered in your mainstream
hospitals," says Ernest Moy, who leads the team that
writes the federal government's National Healthcare
Disparities Report.