ORCID
0009-0003-4107-2166
Abstract
Minorities disproportionately attend minority-serving hospitals (MSHs) and safety-net hospitals (SNHs). This study examines whether MSHs or SNHs are more culturally competent than their counterparts. No research to date has examined the cultural competency of MSHs and SNHs with hospitals outside of these categories. The literature on the determinants of hospital-level cultural competence is sparse, with limited measures used nationally and a robust measure used in a single U.S. state. I calculated a 100-point score of hospital cultural competence from a nationally representative survey of hospitals (N = 849 respondents). Using multilevel regression models, I found that MSHs are culturally competent (scoring 9.4 points higher, p < 0.001), while the evidence for SNHs is much weaker: 0.26 points higher (p < 0.9). Though membership in a national association of SNHs results in an increase of 4.4 points, it is still below the 5%-level (p = 0.062). These findings have implications for discussions made more urgent by the “racial reckoning” brought on by the Black Lives Matter protests.
