Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Surgical Treatment of Acute Myocardial Infarction: The Role of Hospital and Physician Effects

Many studies document disparities between Blacks and Whites in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction on controlling for patient demographic factors and comorbid conditions. Other studies provide evidence of disparities between Hispanics and Whites in cardiac care. Such disparities may be explained by differences in the hospitals where minority and nonminority patients obtain treatment and by differences in the traits of physicians who treat minority and nonminority patients. We used 1997-2005 Florida hospital inpatient discharge data to estimate models of cardiac catheterization, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass grafting in Medicare fee-for-service patients 65 years and older. Controlling for hospital fixed effects does not explain Black-White disparities in cardiac treatment but largely explains Hispanic-White disparities. Controlling for physician fixed effects accounts for some extent of the racial disparities in treatment and entirely explains the ethnic disparities in treatment.