Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

On behalf of the American Medical Association (AMA) and its physician and medical student members, I am responding to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) request for information “Use of Clinical Algorithms That Have the Potential To Introduce Racial/Ethnic Bias Into Healthcare Delivery.” The AMA has long recognized that racial and ethnic health inequities are an unjust and major public health reality in the United States. Understanding that race is a social and political construct and not a biological risk factor for disease and death, the AMA has publicly acknowledged that racism impacts public health and is a barrier to effective medical diagnosis and treatment. We share AHRQ’s concerns that clinical algorithms may inappropriately incorporate race or ethnicity into its recommendations and believe the efforts of AHRQ’s Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) in identifying algorithms of concern and potential solutions are extremely important in helping to advance equity in health.