Today's Date: March 28, 2024
PRIVATE SCHOOL VILLAGE (PSV) AWARDS INAUGURAL ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS   •   The Home Depot Announces Agreement to Acquire SRS Distribution, a Leading Specialty Trade Distributor Across Multiple Verticals;   •   3EO Health Announces the First Point of Care Molecular Test Under $15   •   Government of Canada signs two bilateral agreements with Quebec to support initiatives to improve health care   •   "SHAKIRA DESDE TIMES SQUARE," an Exclusive Special Taking Viewers Behind-the-Scenes of Shakira's Historic Surprise Performance i   •   Latest U.S. Soybean Field Trials by Texas Crop Science Deliver Average Yield Increase of More Than 20%   •   Parental avoidance of toxic exposures could help prevent autism, ADHD in children, new study shows   •   EIG’s MidOcean Energy Completes Acquisition of Tokyo Gas’ Interests in Portfolio of Australian Integrated LNG Projec   •   Stora Enso publishes Green and Sustainability-Linked Financing Report 2023   •   Lenzing strives to drive beneficial transformation across the value chain   •   Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and Palantir Partner to Create Safe Conditions for In-Person Education in Schools   •   Cardinal Tobin Blesses New Open-Air Mausoleum of the Holy Spirit Site   •   Midea Group Breaks Revenue and Profit Records with RMB 373.7 Billion in 2023   •   Apogee Enterprises Schedules Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Earnings Release and Conference Call   •   Nutrex-Hawaii Introduces Its #1 Selling BioAstin® Hawaiian Astaxanthin® in a Retail-Ready, Sugar-Free, Vegan Gummy Forma   •   Clean Energy Appoints Patrick J. Ford to Board of Directors   •   SLB Announces Agreement to Acquire Majority Ownership in Aker Carbon Capture   •   The Lenserf Group Launches Emotional Intelligence Academy for HBCU Interns   •   Netcracker Continues Its Support of the U.S. Paralympic Ski and Snowboard Team at Adaptive Spirit 2024   •   Guo Guangchang: "Focus on building sustainable, predictable and enterprise with stable profit growth "
Bookmark and Share

Minorities Entering Nursing Homes In Record Numbers

PROVIDENCE, RI — A new Brown University study suggests a racial disparity in elder care options in the United States. In the last decade, minorities have poured into nursing homes at a time when whites have left in even greater numbers.

nursing home
Brown University
Black News, African American News, Minority News, Civil Rights News, Discrimination, Racism, Racial Equality, Bias, Equality, Afro American News, Hispanic News, Latino News, Mexican News, Minority News, Civil Rights, Discrimination, Racism, Diversity, Latina, Racial Equality, Bias, Equality, Native American News, Indian News, Native News, Minority News, Civil Rights, Discrimination, Racism, Diversity, Racial Equality, Bias, EqualityAt first blush the analysis suggests that elderly blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are gaining greater access to nursing home care. But the growing proportion of minorities in nursing homes is coming about partly because they do not have the same access to more desirable forms of care as wealthier whites do, said the study’s lead author Zhanlian Feng, assistant professor of community health in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

 

“Seemingly, we are closing the gap in terms of minority access to nursing home beds, but I don’t think that is something to celebrate,” Feng said. “They are really the last resort. Most elders would rather stay in their homes, or some place like home, but not a nursing home unless they have to.”

The new analysis shows that between 1999 and 2008 the nation’s nursing home population shrank by 6.1 percent to just over 1.2 million people. In that time period the number of whites in nursing homes decreased by 10.2 percent nationwide, while the number of blacks rose 10.8 percent, the number of Hispanics rose by 54.9 percent and the number of Asians rose by 54.1 percent. The study also looked at nursing home population changes in the top 10 metropolitan areas for each minority.

Prior research has shown that the nursing homes in predominately minority areas are often of lower quality and are more likely to close, while assisted living facilities are more likely to be built in areas where residents have high incomes. The result, reflected in the figures in the new Health Affairs paper, is a disparity that plays out not only economically and geographically, but also racially, Feng said.

“We know those alternatives are not equally available, accessible, or affordable to everybody, certainly not to many minority elders,” he said.

As policymakers look to “rebalance” elder care from nursing homes to other forms of care, for instance with shifts in Medicaid funding to support home and community-based services, they should account for these disparities, Feng said. As it is, whites are clearly more likely to be using more desirable alternatives; more concerted efforts may be required to promote minority elders’ use of them too, he said.

“Rebalancing is a recognition of most people’s preferences for long-term care,” Feng said. “For that effort to be successful you have to consider who is using what.”

To determine the figures, Feng and his co-authors used the federally mandated Minimum Data Set, which tracks the population of nursing home users and assesses their care needs on a routine basis, because they receive substantial Medicare and Medicaid funding. Similar data is not available for other kinds of elder care, which is predominantly paid for with private insurance dollars.

One way Feng and his co-authors have quantified the disparity in eldercare is by grouping metropolitan areas into quartiles based on the proportion of whites, blacks, Hispanics or Asians 65 or older in each area. The researchers found that the representation of blacks, Hispanics and Asians in nursing homes increased as their share of elderly in the total population increased. That correlation did not hold for whites, who did not appear to be obliged to choose nursing homes as they age.

In New York, a top 10 metropolitan area for blacks, Hispanics and Asians, nursing home residents from these groups increased 22 percent, 84 percent and 40 percent, respectively. In Los Angeles/Long Beach, the increases were 1 percent for blacks, 41 percent for Hispanics and 56 percent among Asians.

With different rates in different cities, the challenge facing policymakers is not only national, but also local, the researchers said.

“Efforts to reduce disparities should target both communities and facilities with high concentrations of minority residents,” they wrote in Health Affairs.

In addition to Feng, the paper’s other authors at Brown are Mary Fennell, professor of sociology; Denise Tyler, gerontology researcher; Melissa Clark, associate professor of community health; and Vincent Mor, the Florence Pirce Grant Professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice.


STORY TAGS: nursing home , Brown University , Black News, African American News, Minority News, Civil Rights News, Discrimination, Racism, Racial Equality, Bias, Equality, Afro American News, Hispanic News, Latino News, Mexican News, Minority News, Civil Rights, Discrimination, Racism, Diversity, Latina, Racial Equality, Bias, Equality, Native American News, Indian News, Native News, Minority News, Civil Rights, Discrimination, Racism, Diversity, Racial Equality, Bias, Equality

Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News