October 30, 2020

Team to Look at Racial Bias in a VA Algorithm for High-Risk Veterans [Corrected]

A VA Merit (R01) grant involving members of our department has been selected for funding: “Racial Bias in a VA Algorithm for High-Risk Veterans.” The team members involved are: Amol Navathe, MD, PhD (PI); Kristin Linn, PhD, MStat; Ravi Parikh, MD, MPP, FACP; Helen (Jiali) Yan, Kevin Jenkins, PhD; Sumedha Chhatre, PhD; and Matt Maciejewski, PhD.

This project looks at how VA clinical risk scores may systematically underestimate risk for Black veterans, and it aims to develop approaches to mitigate this risk including incorporating social determinants of health into these metrics.

“Clinical predictive scores are used in many health care settings outside of the VA, and many of these may underestimate risk for minority communities,” Dr. Parikh said. “We will develop methodologies to both diagnose and address this unfairness in algorithms; these methodologies could be used outside of the VA as well.”

Correction: This article originally did not state the correct co-investigators and did not list degrees for all members.

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