As a rising chorus of healthcare experts decries the harmful racial bias in clinical decision support tools (CDSTs), the House Ways and Means Committee has released a report spelling out in detail what the problem is, how it affects health equity, and how healthcare stakeholders can address it.
Among the issues described in the report is the widespread practice of applying "racial correction" modifiers to clinical guidelines and algorithms so as to adjust for the supposed biological differences among races and ethnicities — an assumption that has been disproved by abundant scientific evidence. For example, one CDST predicts the odds for success in a vaginal birth after cesarean delivery at 80.9% for White women, 68.4% for Black women, 68.2% for Latina women, and 52.3% for women of mixed Black and Latina heritage. The report notes that the rate of maternal mortality among Black, American Indian, and Latina women is two to three times higher than the rate among White women. The rate of cesarian delivery is also higher, despite the known health benefits of vaginal delivery.
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-MA) said in a news releasethat the feedback he'd gotten on racial/ethnic bias from medical societies and other industry voices was divergent.
