Do Differences in Hospital and Surgeon Quality Explain Racial Disparities in Lower-extremity Vascular Amputations?
View/ Open
Gawande_Do Differences in Hospital vor.pdf (888.3Kb)
Access Status
Full text of the requested work is not available in DASH at this time ("restricted access"). For more information on restricted deposits, see our FAQ.Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0b013e3181b41d53Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Regenbogen, Scott E., Atul A. Gawande, Stuart R. Lipsitz, Caprice C. Greenberg, and Ashish K. Jha. 2009. “Do Differences in Hospital and Surgeon Quality Explain Racial Disparities in Lower-Extremity Vascular Amputations?” Transactions of the ... Meeting of the American Surgical Association 127: 68–75. https://doi.org/10.1097/sla.0b013e3181b41d53.Abstract
Objective: To understand whether racial disparities in surgery for lower-extremity arterial disease are minimized by high-quality providers, or instead, differential treatment of otherwise similar patients pervades all settings.Summary Background Data: Black patients are substantially more likely than whites to undergo amputation rather than revascularization for lower-extremity arterial disease. Because their care is disproportionately concentrated among a small share of providers, some have attributed such disparities to the quality and capacity of these sites.Methods: We evaluated all 86,865 white or black fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries 65 and older who underwent major lower-extremity vascular procedures. Using generalized linear mixed models with random effects, we computed risk-adjusted odds of amputation by race overall, and after serial substratification by salient patient and provider characteristics.Results: Blacks were far more likely to undergo amputation (45% vs. 20%). Their procedures were performed more often by nonspecialists (41% vs. 27%; P < 0.001), in low-volume hospitals (40% vs. 32%; P < 0.001), with high amputation rates (5.3% vs. 29%; P < 0.001). Controlling for differences in comorbidity, disease severity, and surgeon and hospital performance, blacks' odds of amputation remained 1.7 times greater (95% confidence interval: 1.6-1.9). Even among highest-performing providers-vascular specialists in high-volume, urban teaching hospitals with angioplasty facilities-racial gaps persisted (risk-adjusted amputation rates: 7% for blacks vs. 4% for whites, P < 0.001; odds ratio: 1.8, 95% confidence interval: 1.5-2.1).Conclusions: Black patients with critical limb ischemia face significantly higher risk of major amputation, even when treated by providers with highest likelihoods of revascularization. Increased referral to high-performing providers might increase limb-preservation, but cannot eliminate disparities until equitable treatment can be ensured in all settings.Citable link to this page
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:38846195
Collections
- HMS Scholarly Articles [18278]
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)