Racial Bias in Healthcare Algorithm Misrepresents Needs of Sick Black Patients
Researchers analyzed the health records of millions of patients to identify significant racial bias in a widely used healthcare algorithm. The algorithm seeks to target patients with the highest care needs and to predict which patients are most likely to have higher health care costs in the future. However, researchers found that because black patients are generally less likely to utilize the healthcare system and incur lower costs, the algorithm significantly miscalculated the needs of much sicker black patients, ranking these patients equal to healthier white patients. Researchers found that correcting the bias in this algorithm would result in twice as many black patients flagged for additional care and would significantly decrease the incidence of healthy white patients mistakenly targeted as needy.