Hospital admissions: An examination of race and health insurance

Abstract

This study examined the effects of racial differences and differences in insurance status on source of hospital admissions.  The data source was the 2001 National Hospital Discharge Survey and included a sub-sample of 104,185 patients.  58.3% of patients were admitted through the emergency room, 75.0% of patients were White, 19.7% were Black, and 61.5% were on government insurance or uninsured.  Black patients were found to have significantly higher levels of emergency room admissions (69.1%=p < .0001), regardless of insurance status (gov’t/self-pay, 73.7%=p < .0001, private insurance, 59.5%=p < .0001).  Patients on government insurance or self-payment had significantly higher levels of emergency room admissions (65.8%=p < .0001).  Regression analysis showed that both race and insurance type are significant predictors (p < .0001) of Source of Admission to the hospital.  Percent probabilities confirmed this finding.  Thus, it was concluded that racial differences witnessed in source of admission were not mediated by insurance type and that race and insurance type are significant, independent predictors of hospital admission source.