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Background:

Compared with white patients, black patients are more likely to undergo cardiac surgery at low-quality hospitals, even when they live closer to high-quality ones. Opportunities for organizational interventions to alleviate this problem remain elusive.

Objectives:

To explore physician isolation in communities with high proportions of black residents as a factor contributing to racial disparities in access to high-quality hospitals for cardiac surgery.

Research Design:

Using national Medicare data (2008–2011), we mapped physician social networks at hospitals where coronary artery bypass grafting procedures were performed, measuring their degree of connectedness. We then fitted a series of multivariate regression models to examine for associations between physician connectedness and the proportion of black residents in the hospital service area (HSA) served by each network.

Measures:

Measures of …