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To the Editor: I believe that the study by Dr Werner and colleagues¹ contains inaccuracies that trivialize the effect community hospitals have on the US health care system. First, the authors state that "[c]are for poor and underserved patients in the United States is currently concentrated at a small number of hospitals. . . . "The supporting reference for this claim studied only elderly black patients.² According to 2000 US census data, black individuals represent only 12.3% of the total US population.³ It is not appropriate to generalize the care received by a minority of patients to that received by a majority of US patients.

Werner et al then imply that these particular hospitals are "more likely to be large, government, and major teaching hospitals." However, Table 1 in their article shows that major teaching hospitals comprised only 3.1% to 12.0% of the hospitals providing care for Medicaid patients. Hospitals with minor or no . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Jeffrey L. Williams, MD, MS
lcaep@hotmail.com
Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology
Good Samaritan Health System
Lebanon, Pennsylvania

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