WASHINGTON — In the U.S. patients receive proper medical care from doctors and nurses only 55 percent of the time, regardless of their race, income, education or insurance status, according to a national study published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine. A well-functioning health care system should provide recommended levels of care 80 to 90 percent of the time, the study’s authors said. In a performance review of preventive services and care for 30 chronic conditions, including hypertension, diabetes and heart disease, researchers found that it’s almost a coin flip as to whether patients get the recommended care from doctors and nurses – even though the standard treatments are widely known. The findings show that everyone is at roughly equal risk of inadequate care from medical professionals. However, small differences did occur in the care given male and female patients and those from different racial and ethnic groups. “Not only is no place safe, no one is safe from poor quality,” said Dr. Steven M. Asch, the lead author and senior natural scientist at Los Angeles-based RAND Health, the nation’s largest independent health-policy research organization. “No matter what group we looked at, whether they […]