Hospitals treating higher proportions of minority populations are more likely to divert ambulances, which indicates emergency department overcrowding, than hospitals serving lower proportions of minorities, according to a study in Health Affairs.
Researchers studied data on ambulance diversion — when an ED diverts ambulances to other facilities due to overcrowding — at 202 hospitals in California in 2007.
They found hospitals in the 90th percentile of minority ED visitors had 306 annual hours of diversion — 4.1 times as many as hospitals in the 10th percentile, which had 75 hours, all other factors being equal.
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Researchers studied data on ambulance diversion — when an ED diverts ambulances to other facilities due to overcrowding — at 202 hospitals in California in 2007.
They found hospitals in the 90th percentile of minority ED visitors had 306 annual hours of diversion — 4.1 times as many as hospitals in the 10th percentile, which had 75 hours, all other factors being equal.
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