By Jenna Becker
Race-based clinical algorithms are widely used. Yet many race-based adjustments lack evidence and worsen racism in health care.
Prominent politicians have called for research into the use of race-based algorithms in clinical care as part of a larger effort to understand the public health impacts of structural racism. Physicians and researchers have called for an urgent reconsideration of the use of race in these algorithms.
Efforts to remove race-based algorithms from practice have thus far been piecemeal. Medical associations, health systems, and policymakers must work in tandem to rapidly identify and remove racist algorithms from clinical practice.