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The Poor and Economically Vulnerable in Public and Safety Net Healthcare Institutions: Outcomes and Attitudes

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Stigma and Prejudice

Part of the book series: Current Clinical Psychiatry ((CCPSY))

Abstract

Healthcare in the United States has undergone many structural, organizational and fiscal changes in the past century. Historically, there has been a dedicated effort to make medical care available to the economically and socially vulnerable population, mostly in public sector and health safety net hospitals. In the past decade, the focused has shifted toward establishing national benchmarks and standardized performance outcomes in medical facilities that care for a disproportionate number of the poor, with the goal of achieving comparable healthcare outcomes regardless of economic status. Yet, there are still misperceptions among healthcare providers, patients and the public that the medical care provided to the poor is inferior and substandard. This chapter will discuss the available data on health outcome measures, and attitudes held by the public about the care provided to the economically underprivileged

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Lior Givon PhD, MD

  2. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Lior Givon PhD, MD

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  1. Lior Givon PhD, MD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Ranna Parekh

  2. Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Ed W. Childs

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Givon, L. (2016). The Poor and Economically Vulnerable in Public and Safety Net Healthcare Institutions: Outcomes and Attitudes. In: Parekh, R., Childs, E. (eds) Stigma and Prejudice. Current Clinical Psychiatry. Humana Press, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27580-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27580-2_4

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