Mary Butler (JULY 13, 2020)
Early research has found ample evidence that COVID-19 has been disproportionately impacting communities of color.
Black COVID-19 patients are almost three times as likely to be hospitalized as their white counterparts, according to a Health Affairs study.
This disparity isn’t exactly a surprise to providers who have been studying the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) for decades and who have seen firsthand how a person’s race impacts their health outcomes.
Art Papier, MD, a practicing dermatologist in Rochester, NY and CEO of VisualDx, a diagnostic clinical decision support system. VisualDx provides a photographic database of dermatologic conditions and what they look like on a variety of skin tones. The database is intended to help emergency physicians and primary care providers – who have less experience diagnosing dermatologic conditions on darker skin tones – better address racial disparities in their practice settings. Papier spoke with the Journal about his research into racial disparities in healthcare, the role of clinical decision support, and the impact of COVID-19 in minority populations.
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