Are Racial/Ethnic Gaps in the Use of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Narrowing?

After adjusting for age, race, gender, atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter, cerebrovascular disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, duration of symptom since initial HF onset, prior hospitalizations for HF, previous myocardial infarction, LVEF, QRS duration, creatinine, sodium, brain natriuretic peptide, hospital owner, hospital region, electrophysiologist operator ICD training, physician volume, and the patients' clustering among hospitals in the hierarchical model, blacks and Hispanics remained less likely to receive CRT-D compared with whites (black vs. white odds ratio: 0.69; 95% confidence interval: 0.65 to 0.73, p < 0.001; Hispanic vs. white odds ratio: 0.84; 95% confidence interval: 0.78 to 0.91; p < 0.001). [...]quality improvement programs and performance measures that help practices benchmark their quality can help reduce differences in care.