Roughly half of all black and Hispanic patients who enter publicly funded alcohol treatment programs do not complete treatment, compared to 62% of white patients who did complete treatment, according to a new study from a team of researchers including the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

According to researchers, the statistical differences roughly translate to 13,000 fewer completed episodes of drug treatment for black patients and 8,000 fewer for Hispanic patients, compared to white patients. Other minority groups, including Native Americans, also showed lower completion rates than white patients. Only Asian American patients fared better than white patients for both drug and alcohol treatment completion.