Comparison of Change in Quality of Care Between Safety-Net and Non-Safety-Net Hospitals.

The article presents a study examining trends in disparities in the quality of medical care between hospitals with a high and low percentage of Medicaid patients. The design and setting of the longitudinal study using public data on hospital performance for Medicaid patients between 2004 and 2006 are detailed. The outcomes measured changes in medical performance to estimate disparities in hospital quality during the period studied. Results showed that hospitals that treated a high percentage of Medicaid patients had a reduced chance of achieving high-performance status and were more likely to incur financial penalties for low performance ratings.