Patient Care Access News

Unequal Home Healthcare Agency Access Yields Racial Health Disparities

Black and Hispanic Medicare beneficiaries have lower access to home healthcare agency providers, which may be fueling racial health disparities in clinical outcomes.

disparities in home healthcare agency access yield racial health disparities

Source: Getty Images

By Sara Heath

- Medicare beneficiaries of color are more likely to use unpaid, informal caregivers, like family caregivers, for their home healthcare than White beneficiaries, a trend researchers from the Commonwealth Fund said likely contributes to the poorer health outcomes experienced by home healthcare recipients of color.

These findings come as the medical industry turns its attention toward home healthcare. Home healthcare can be a patient satisfier because it allows individuals to recover and rehabilitate after an acute care episode in their own homes rather than in a skilled nursing facility.

But home healthcare also raises new questions about workforce, as it relies on the services of home healthcare providers. In some cases, those home healthcare providers are unpaid, informal caregivers like family members looking after their loved ones.