COVID-19 Racial Disparities in Testing, Infection, Hospitalization, and Death: Analysis of Epic Patient Data

This analysis builds on a continually growing body of research on racial disparities in COVID-19 by examining testing, infection, hospitalization, and death by race and ethnicity among patients in the Epic health record system. It contributes to the research in this area by providing insight into the experiences of a large patient population across a range of states and health systems, examining variation in the level of care patients required at the time they tested positive for COVID-19 by race and ethnicity, and assessing the extent to which underlying sociodemographic characteristics and health conditions explain racial disparities in hospitalization and death. Overall, it shows that, despite being at increased risk of exposure to the virus, people of color did not have markedly higher testing rates compared to White patients and were more likely to be positive when tested and to require a higher level of care at the time they tested positive. Moreover, it builds on previous research showing people of color have higher rates of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19 by finding that these disparities persist after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and underlying health conditions. Key findings include: