Reframing Equity in Poststroke Discharge: Methodological Considerations and a Call for Equity-Adjusted Models

We commend Cheng et al1 for their timely and important study, Racial and rural disparities in stroke discharge disposition stratified by 90-day survival status. Their finding that Black, Hispanic, and rural-residing Medicare beneficiaries who died within 90 days of ischemic stroke hospitalization were less likely to be discharged to hospice or institutional care highlights enduring inequities in post-acute care transitions. This work is innovative in stratifying outcomes by 90-day survival—a methodological step that reveals disparities otherwise masked in aggregated analyses.