Healthcare Disparities Adversely Affect Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Patients.

Disparities in healthcare adversely affects socioeconomically disadvantaged patients. Social determinants of health, including black race, Hispanic ethnicity, public health insurance, and lower socioeconomic status contribute to a delay in access to care for ACL-injured patients, which may result in increased severity of concomitant knee meniscus and cartilage injuries and inferior outcomes. Surgeons should evaluate their practice setting and pattern, and seek to mitigate this risk. The use of standardized practice protocols and individual patient education can minimize disparities in outcomes due to socioeconomic variables. Implementing health literacy, fostering close therapeutic relations, and ensuring accessibility, particularly for underinsured patients, can reduce complications and readmissions. The issue is understudied. Reporting of gender, age, and BMI is common, but race and ethnicity is less frequently reported; and insurance status, employment status, education level, and socioeconomic status are only minimally reported. Finally, the area deprivation index (ADI) is a free, validated, online tool (with high internal and external validity) to determine patients' levels of socioeconomic disadvantage.