A new study in the Journal of Medical Directors Association very plainly shows racial discrimination.
The study is entitled “Racial Inequities in Receipt of Influenza Vaccination among Nursing Home Residents in the United States, 2008–2009: A Pattern of Low Overall Coverage in Facilities in Which Most Residents are Black.”
The findings of the two year experiment revealed that the treatment of black people in nursing homes with predominantly black residents is demonstrably worse than the treatment of whites in nursing homes with predominantly white residents.Numerous prior studies have shown that rates of influenza vaccinations are almost 10% lower among black nursing home residents than among whites. Until now, however, no studies have attempted to discern why the discrepancy exists.The results of the study show that in areas where the average nursing home has approximately equal numbers of blacks and whites, there is very little difference in vaccination rates. However, in areas where some nursing homes have few, if any, blacks and other nursing homes in the area have more than 50% blacks, the variance in vaccination rates are enormous from a statistical perspective..A few weeks ago, I found myself writing about the an investigation involving poor quality of care in mostly Latino nursing homes here in Chicago. It’s disappointing to find myself writing about the poor quality of care in nursing homes with primarily African-American residents. The silver lining, if there is one, is that these discrepancies are finally being revealed and talked about.