Statement about the Lown Institute Hospital Index Ranking of Hospital Racial Inclusivity
As a place of healing, Gateway Regional Medical Center does not accept or condone discrimination or intolerance. We strive to be a place of peace, refuge, and healing for our diverse community so that all people feel safe, welcomed, and accepted.
Gateway Regional Medical Center is a safety net hospital with a 100-year history of proudly serving its surrounding diverse community. While we commend the Lown Institute for its work to highlight racial inclusivity for seniors in hospitals, unfortunately, the study’s ranking of our hospital is not an accurate portrayal of our entire patient population and our commitment to our primary service area of southwestern Illinois.
For Gateway, the Lown community area includes several zip codes in the neighboring state of Missouri, including at least one that is densely populated and more than 90% non-Caucasian. These residents would need to pass four hospitals and cross the Mississippi River on their way to Gateway. While some of these patients seek care at our hospital for various reasons, it would probably be unrealistic that Gateway would serve the entire population for such distant cities, especially for the 65+ patient population.
By defining a service area in such a broad manner, the Lown Institute’s “community area” for our hospital includes cities as far away as 140 miles. Typically, a hospital defines its primary service area at 50% of patient zip code origins, not 90%.
While the Lown Institute’s analysis may reflect some hospitals’ service areas, it is not for ours and others that sit on state lines or in suburban areas near large cities, which is evidenced by three of Gateway’s neighboring hospitals on the Lown Institute’s list.
Regardless from where patients come, it is our priority to provide them high-quality, compassionate care in a safe and respectful environment.
More about the metrics used to determine the ranking:
The Lown Institute’s data relies on two measurements:
- the 65 and older Medicare patient population that seeks care at Gateway, and
- a “community area” defined as the distance from which 90% of the hospital’s Medicare patients traveled in 2018.