The study, published in JAMA Network Open, studied more than 314,000 patients between July 2017 and February 2020 at two emergency departments within a large Northeast health system. Researchers found that 28.8 percent of patients experienced a queue jump, and those patients were more likely to be Black, Hispanic, Spanish speaking or insured by Medicaid.
Here are three other findings:
- Of patients who were Black, Hispanic, Spanish speaking or insured by Medicaid, 24.8 percent were passed over by a patient with the same acuity and 14.2 percent were passed over by a patient with lower acuity.
- The odds of patients receiving care ahead of others were lowest for Medicare insured, Medicaid insured and Hispanic patients.
- Patients in these groups were also more likely to be treated in hallways and leave before treatment was complete.
Hospitals should standardized triage processes to mitigate conscious and unconscious biases that may be associated with timely access to emergency care, the authors said.
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