Working Paper: NBER ID: w16888
Authors: Shamena Anwar; Hanming Fang
Abstract: We propose and empirically implement a test for the presence of racial prejudice among emergency department (ED) physicians based on the bounceback rates of the patients who were discharged after receiving diagnostic tests during their initial ED visits. A bounceback is defined as a return to the ED within 72 hours of being initially discharged. Based on a plausible model of physician behavior, we show that differential bounceback rates across patients of different racial groups who are discharged after receiving diagnostic tests from their ED visits are informative of the racial prejudice of the physicians. Applying the test to administrative data of ED visits from California and New Jersey, we do not find evidence of prejudice against black and Hispanic patients. Our finding suggests that, at least in the emergency department setting, taste based discrimination does not play an important role in the racial disparities in health care.
Keywords: racial prejudice; emergency departments; bounceback rates; health disparities
JEL Codes: I11; J7
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Racial prejudice among ED physicians (J15) | Higher bounceback rates for minority patients (J15) |
| Higher bounceback rates for minority patients (J15) | Evidence of racial prejudice among ED physicians (J15) |
| Bounceback rates do not significantly differ by race (J15) | No evidence of racial prejudice (J15) |
| Control for diagnostic tests received (Y10) | Bounceback rates equal across racial groups (J15) |
| Age and insurance status (G52) | Bounceback rates (E32) |