Poor hospitals for poor people

Startling new research reveals that the worst hospitals treat twice as many poor patients than the best, and those patients are more likely to die.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - New research shows that these hospitals treat approximately twice the number of elderly black and poor patients than the nation's best hospitals. It also shows they are more likely to die of heart attacks and pneumonia. These hospitals may also be at higher risk of financial failure. The study noted that most of these hospitals are located in the American South.

The increased risk of financial failure comes from the new national health care law, which punishesunsatisfactory care by withholding money.

The study was published on Wednesday in the journal, Health Affairs.

According to the study, these hospitals may face a downward spiral that could result in their failure. The withholding of funds from these institutions, may spiral into ever-worsening care for patients, and an eventual collapse of their operations. Several of the hospitals in the study are already on the brink of closure.

Experts warn the failures could happen soon. According to, Dr. Ashish Jha of the Harvard School of Public Health, which led the study, "These hospitals are going to have a much harder time in the new funding environment. I worry they're going to get worse over time and possibly even fail. I worry that we're going to see a bunch of that happening over the next three to five years."

Jha said, that he believes this is an, "unintended consequence of the health overhaul that could increase health disparities for minorities."

Under the affordable care act, hospitals that do not improve the quality of their care could see Medicare payments shrink by one percent starting in October of 2012. That one percent could be enough to break some hospitals.

The study did not list the 178 hospitals that the researchers rated as the worst, because of their low quality and high costs. An agreement with Medicare regarding data use prevented them from identifying the hospitals used in their research.

The study found that 122 of the best hospitals with high quality and low costs, were more likely to be in the Northeast, more likely to be nonprofit, and more likely to have cardiac intensive care units than the worst hospitals.

Elderly blacks comprise 15 percent of the patients in the worst hospitals and only about 7 percent in the best. The study said differences were similar for people on Medicaid.

The study also found, quite chillingly, that patients with heart attacks or pneumonia at the worst hospitals were much more likely to die.

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The result of this study shows one of the unintended consequences of the Affordable Care Act. How best to fix this problem, is a challenge that hospital administrators and legislators will have to address before more patients die. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen soon.

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