Detecting, Reporting and Alleviating Racial Biases in Standardized Medical Terminologies and Ontologies

James Geller, Navya Martin Kollapally

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Recently, the issue has been raised that personal and systemic biases in organizations, such as some police departments, have also been detected in healthcare organizations. Furthermore, victims of bias incidents often end up in the healthcare system for treatment. Providers use standardized terminologies to record the status of patients in EHRs. To accurately record patient data, these terminologies must contain all the terms that a healthcare provider needs, including terms that might be race-, ethnicity-, or gender-specific. Following reports about gaps in terminologies, we investigated the coverage with respect to such terms in major terminologies such as SNOMED CT, ICD-10, CPT, NCIt and MedDRA. To identify potentially missing terms, we drew on public databases and news articles describing incidents that resulted in minority members requiring medical attention after police interventions. We posit those terms should be added into medical terminologies to improve the ability to record incidents happening inside and outside of the healthcare system.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2021 IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine, BIBM 2021
EditorsYufei Huang, Lukasz Kurgan, Feng Luo, Xiaohua Tony Hu, Yidong Chen, Edward Dougherty, Andrzej Kloczkowski, Yaohang Li
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages663-667
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9781665401265
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021
Event2021 IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine, BIBM 2021 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: Dec 9 2021Dec 12 2021

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2021 IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine, BIBM 2021

Conference

Conference2021 IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine, BIBM 2021
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period12/9/2112/12/21

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Health Informatics
  • Information Systems and Management

Keywords

  • HealthCare equity
  • Minority populations.
  • Police violence
  • Racial profiling in healthcare

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