Health Care Equity in the Use of Advanced Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Primary Care

J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Oct;36(10):3188-3193. doi: 10.1007/s11606-021-06846-x. Epub 2021 May 23.

Abstract

The integration of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into the practice of medicine holds much promise. Yet, the opportunity to leverage these tools carries with it an equal responsibility to ensure that principles of equity are incorporated into their implementation and use. Without such efforts, tools will potentially reflect the myriad of ways in which data, algorithmic, and analytic biases can be produced, with the potential to widen inequities by race, ethnicity, gender, and other sociodemographic factors implicated in disparate health outcomes. We propose a set of strategic assertions to examine before, during, and after adoption of these technologies in order to facilitate healthcare equity across all patient population groups. The purpose is to enable generalists to promote engagement with technology companies and co-create, promote, or support innovation and insights that can potentially inform decision-making and health care equity.

Publication types

  • Editorial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Artificial Intelligence*
  • Delivery of Health Care
  • Humans
  • Medicine*
  • Primary Health Care
  • Technology