Can Health Information Sharing Reduce Racial Disparities in Physician Diagnoses?

Prior literature has documented evidence of disparities in physician diagnoses, which lead to disparities in healthcare delivery, patient perceptions of care, and health outcomes. We seek to understand whether (a) disparities in physician diagnoses can be attributed to disparate impact, and (b) IT-enabled health information sharing among healthcare providers can mitigate such disparities. We focus on racial disparities between Hispanic and Non-Hispanic, White patients, in their diagnoses of heart disease. We find statistical evidence of diagnostic disparate impact where the likelihood of Hispanic patients being diagnosed with heart disease was around 3% lower than White patients, after accounting for their underlying race-specific, risk of heart disease. However, we observe that health information sharing can reduce the likelihood of diagnostic disparate impact, with low-skilled physicians benefiting more than highly-skilled physicians. Our study underscores the significant potential of health information sharing in mitigating disparate impact in healthcare delivery and promoting health equity.