Whitey Ford
10-29-2019, 03:57 AM
Computers are racist. LOL
Technology biased against black patients runs rampant in hospitals
https://i.imgur.com/ZYY27p3.jpg
According to researchers, the algorithm was disproportionately suggesting more white patients for a continued care program than black patients, even when black patients were sicker. Only 17.7% of black patients were getting additional care, when 46.5% of them should have been, the report found. The algorithm is used across health systems and is estimated to impact about 100 million people around the country, according to both STAT and the Washington Post.
The bias appears to stem from how the system, which the Washington Post identifies as being made by the health services company Optum, quantifies what it means to be sick. Rather than using illness or biological data, the algorithm uses cost and insurance claim information to understand how healthy a person is. The more dollars spent, the logic goes, the sicker a person is. The data revealed that less was being spent on black patients in part because they were receiving less care. Notably, the study points, algorithms based on cost are widely used in health care.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90422523/biased-technology-that-favors-white-patients-runs-rampant-in-hospitals
Technology biased against black patients runs rampant in hospitals
https://i.imgur.com/ZYY27p3.jpg
According to researchers, the algorithm was disproportionately suggesting more white patients for a continued care program than black patients, even when black patients were sicker. Only 17.7% of black patients were getting additional care, when 46.5% of them should have been, the report found. The algorithm is used across health systems and is estimated to impact about 100 million people around the country, according to both STAT and the Washington Post.
The bias appears to stem from how the system, which the Washington Post identifies as being made by the health services company Optum, quantifies what it means to be sick. Rather than using illness or biological data, the algorithm uses cost and insurance claim information to understand how healthy a person is. The more dollars spent, the logic goes, the sicker a person is. The data revealed that less was being spent on black patients in part because they were receiving less care. Notably, the study points, algorithms based on cost are widely used in health care.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90422523/biased-technology-that-favors-white-patients-runs-rampant-in-hospitals