Handoffs and Equity: Impact of a Patient Distribution Model on Handoffs for Black Patients.

Background: Hospital medicine patient distribution models (PDM) assign patients to inpatient services on hospital admission. Models balance tradeoffs including patient handoffs, physician wellness, subspecialty care, and other factors to ensure optimal outcomes; however, equity is rarely considered. Handoffs during inpatient care can result in medical error and worse patient outcomes. This study evaluates the impact of a PDM that prioritizes use of specialty care services and an overflow service (OS) during high census on racial inequities in handoff frequency.

Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort study of inpatient encounters on hospital medicine services from July 2017 to December 2019 was conducted. The primary exposures included being discharged by a general medicine service (GMS) or cared for by an OS. The primary outcome was handoffs per day of stay, analyzed by multivariable regression adjusted for age, gender, race, ethnicity, insurance, discharge from GMS, and care from OS.

Results: A total of 4165 inpatient hospitalizations with the majority of their stay on a hospital medicine service were reviewed. Patients discharged by GMS (78.2% vs. 58.1%, p < .001) and cared for by OS (78.7% vs. 67.0%, p < .001) were more likely to identify as Black. Multivariable analysis showed a handoff risk ratio of 1.53 (p < .001) for OS patients and 1.06 (p = .01) if discharged from GMS, but race alone did not significantly affect risk of handoffs.

Conclusion: The PDM prioritization drove increased handoffs disproportionately for Black patients. Multivariable analysis showed that race alone did not contribute to increased handoffs suggesting the creation of a systemic bias in patient care.