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Millions of black people affected by racial bias in health-care algorithms

Study reveals rampant racism in decision-making software used by US hospitals — and highlights ways to correct it.
  1. Heidi Ledford
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An algorithm widely used in US hospitals to allocate health care to patients has been systematically discriminating against black people, a sweeping analysis has found.

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Nature 574, 608-609 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03228-6

Updates & Corrections

  • Update 26 October 2019: Added the name of the algorithm developer and the company’s response to the study, as well as additional comments from Ziad Obermeyer.

References

  1. Obermeyer, Z., Powers, B., Vogeli, C. & Mullainathan, S. Science 336, 447–453 (2019).

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