Seattle report ranks local hospitals on access to care for minorities, low-income individuals

Four advocacy groups in Seattle on Tuesday issued a report that highlighted disparities in access to care for minorities at several local hospitals, the Seattle Times reports.

The report ranked the hospitals based on their access to health care services to minorities and low-income individuals.

The groups -- Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, Washington Community Action Network, Minority Executive Directors Coalition and One America -- called for local hospitals to evaluate whether their practices are contributing to health care disparities among minority communities.

As part of the report, volunteers from the groups posed as Spanish-speaking patients and made about 60 telephone calls or visits to six Seattle-area hospitals, requesting financial assistance information. Eight out of 10 of the inquiries resulted in repeat transfers to other departments or employees hanging up the phone without offering assistance or giving unsatisfactory answers, according to the groups.

The groups also found disparities in how much charity care hospitals provided to low-income patients and proximity to the nearest hospital. The groups maintain that such disparities could exacerbate minority health care disparities and partly explain why minorities' health lags behind that of whites, according to the Times.

"There are geographic, linguistic and financial barriers to accessing medical care. And they disproportionately affect people of color," Gerald Smith, associate director of Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, said.

Virginia Mason Medical Center, one of the hospitals mentioned in the report, rebutted the findings, maintaining that the research does not provide an accurate picture of contributions to the community and to Medicare beneficiaries (Song, Seattle Times, 3/4).

The report is available online (.pdf).