California Health Report writes of new research by RAND and MedStar Health that highlights the ongoing pervasive systemic challenges Black people face in receiving quality health care. The research begins to quantify the increased likelihood of Black patients experiencing routine preventable medical errors.
Key Findings from the research:
- The environmental scan revealed that while patient safety events, overall, were characterized by racial and ethnic disparities, methodological challenges—primarily related to data availability—limited in-depth analysis of this finding.
- The environmental scan also indicated that racism and its impact on patient safety events was more often discussed in editorials than in peer-reviewed and gray literature.
- Subject-matter expert interviews indicated that various levels of racism ranging from internalized and interpersonal to institutional and systemic directly impact the risk of patient safety events and highlighted the interplay between racism and social determinants of health.
- The authors also identified patient, provider, and systems factors that contribute to disparities in patient safety events.
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