The Racial Integration of Health Facilities

Abstract

No published measures of racial integration in health facilities in the United States exist. This article reviews the problems with possible sources of data. It then derives estimates of the degree of integration in nursing homes and hospitals from the 1985 National Nursing Home and National Hospital Discharge surveys. Nursing homes were less racially integrated than hospitals. Health facilities in the South were more integrated than in any other region of the country. There was little difference in the degree of racial segregation of publicly financed patients and those whose care was financed from private sources. Data on nursing homes in Pennsylvania illustrate in more detail some of the consequences of such patterns of segregation. The article discusses some of the reasons for the lack of easy access to such information and makes recommendations for addressing it.