From a large survey reported in the March 16 2006 NEJM:
Over all, “recommended care”, as defined across a spectrum of multiple quality indicators, was delivered just over half the time, a finding consistent with previous studies. Variation among groups was less than the overall quality gap.
There were some surprising findings. Quality scores were higher for women than for men and higher for blacks and Hispanics than for whites.
The authors conclude: “Quality-improvement programs that focus solely on reducing disparities among sociodemographic subgroups may miss larger opportunities to improve care.”