Interrupting Technological Pathways to Health Inequities

Abstract

Technological innovation in healthcare wields considerable influence on patient care and health outcomes. From the introduction of dialysis to the recent push of artificial intelligence (AI) into the healthcare domain, technology is widely seen to hold the secret to improved outcomes and increased longevity. While the benefits of tech innovation have resulted in improved outcomes of multiple sorts, the degree to which technology confers benefits is not experienced equally across groups. Health disparities along racial lines have been documented for decades, and despite relentless evidence of health disparities, these inequities persist. Given the reliance on technology in healthcare, close examination of the role of technology in the creation and perpetuation of health inequities in the provision of healthcare is essential. The urgency of holding technological innovation under scrutiny is perhaps even more pronounced in the digital age when so much of the clinical experience is becoming digitized. This expanded digitization in healthcare also gives rise to new and different ways of creating and contributing to health inequities. As healthcare adopts ever more technological resources in the effort to improve health outcomes, the need for systematic scrutiny and accountability specifically directed at pathways to health inequities also intensifies. Joining the call for increased research on interventions, this chapter briefly examines the role of technological innovation in the creation and perpetuation of health inequities, and highlights the potential usefulness of regulation theory particularly pertaining to technology in developing effective strategies to interrupt technological pathways to health inequities as an essential complement to addressing root causes of health inequities.