Evidence of Health Care Disparities in the Perioperative Setting

In the last 10 years, the American health care system has been criticized because of its excessive cost, high levels of uninsured citizens and evidence of health care disparities. Even though the Affordable Care Act has reduced the number of uninsured Americans, there has been little change in the quality of care for minorities. Health care disparities have been documented in several areas of medicine, such as diabetes care, cardiovascular screening and kidney transplant management.^1-3  In this context, it has been shown that these disparities have resulted in increased levels of morbidity and mortality among minority groups.^2,3  Several reports from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) have shown that socioeconomic status, education and insurance type impact the use of health services and the quality of care a patient receives. For example, individuals with lower income received poorer quality of care than those...