Avoid Unintended Bias: How to Responsibly Use AI/Machine Learning to Address Health Disparities

April 11, 2023

Activity description 

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are increasingly being used in health care settings with applications in decision support, patient care and disease management. There are concerns that the underlying data on which AI depends may be inherently biased or lack a diverse representation of populations such that algorithms cannot produce accurate outputs and will further widen the gap of equitable care. This activity will discuss how AI and ML can be used to address social determinants of health and create more equitable health care solutions and improve health outcomes.

Provided by
This activity is jointly provided by Optum Health Education, UnitedHealth Group and Executives for Health Innovation.

Commercial support
There was no commercial support received for this activity.

Required hardware/software
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Target Audience

This activity is designed to meet the educational needs of nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physicians, PAs, psychologists, social workers and other health care professionals that have an interest in how AI and ML can be used to address social determinants of health and create more equitable health care solutions and improve health outcomes.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this educational activity, participants should be able to:

  • Identify approaches to create inclusive data sets that produce positive health outcomes for all patients.  
  • Recognize processes that can result in biased data.
  • Illustrate how providers can properly use innovative technology, like AI and ML, without compromising patient safety and experience. 
  • Distinguish the collaborations necessary to ensure that future AI and ML technology can be optimally integrated and produce accurate data to improve health outcomes and explain how to initiate collaboration within an organization.
Activity summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.00 ACPE - Pharmacists
  • 1.00 ACPE - Pharmacy Technicians
  • 1.00 AMA - Physicians
  • 1.00 ANCC - Nurses
  • 1.00 APA - Psychologists
  • 1.00 Attendance - General Attendance
  • 1.00 ASWB - Social Workers
Activity opens: 
02/27/2023
Activity expires: 
05/11/2023
Event starts: 
04/11/2023 - 1:00pm EDT
Event ends: 
04/11/2023 - 2:00pm EDT
Rating: 
0

Presenters
Kevin Larsen, MD (Moderator)
Senior Vice President of Clinical Innovation and Translation
Optum

Michael Currie
Senior Vice President & Chief Health Equity Officer
UnitedHealth Group

Elia Lima-Walton, MD
Director, Data Science and Analytics, Health Group
Elsevier

About the presenters
Kevin Larsen, MD, is the senior vice president of clinical innovation and translation at Optum. Prior to his current role, Larsen held several leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Most recently, he was the senior health IT advisor at the office of the chief technology officer. Before that, he was the director of enterprise strategy and improvement at CMS. He launched and spearheaded the agency transformation in process improvement and human-centered design. He was also a senior advisor at CMS on health IT and health policy for numerous innovation program models. Earlier, Larsen was also the medical director of meaningful use, Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT, where he led the development of clinical quality measurement for the meaningful use program. Larsen started his career at Hennepin County Medical Center, where he held several leadership roles, including chief medical informatics officer. He received a degree in biology and chemistry from Concordia College, and his MD from University of Minnesota Medical School.

Michael Currie, senior vice president and chief health equity officer, has led the coordination of health equity efforts across UnitedHealth Group since June of 2010. He is responsible for the development and execution of enterprise efforts, initiatives and interventions to identify health disparities, as well as the enhancement or implementation of programs, services and strategies to address identified health disparities. Currie has held roles in the public and private sectors with responsibilities related to disease prevention, wellness and health benefits, and has spent close to 30 years focused on population health management. He has contributed to numerous articles, publications and podcasts related to health equity and health disparities; been a guest lecturer at public and private organizations, including academic institutions; and continues to serve on various local and national boards and committees focused on addressing barriers to health care and improving health outcomes.

Elia Lima-Walton, MD, is a physician informaticist that has been with Elsevier since 2015. She went to medical school at Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in Mexico and completed her medical studies at New York Medical College. In her current role as Director Data Science and Clinical Analytics Health, she leverages her knowledge and expertise in medicine, data science, research, and taxonomies to drive strategy in developing novel scalable solutions to improve the clinician experience at the point-of-care and also to support the students and researchers’ journeys. Her research interests include identification of semantic patterns from unstructured text, text mining, CDS, automatic item generation, and knowledge graph expansion. Elia manages her talented team of data scientists, clinicians, and localization experts, and thrives on mentoring individuals both internal and external to Elsevier. In her free time, you can catch her hiking in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina, traveling to exotic lands, or painting.

 

Activity planners
Rebecca Gleason
Activity Manager
Optum Health Education 

Sarah Chart, RN
Vice President
Optum Health Education 

Disclosures of relevant financial relationships
In accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education's (ACCME) Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education, Optum Health Education (OHE) requires all those in control of educational content to disclose their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. Ineligible companies are defined by the ACCME as companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care products used by or on patients. Individuals must disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies and regardless of their view of the relevance of the relationship to the education. OHE ensures that the content is independent of commercial bias.

The activity faculty or planners have no financial relationships to disclose.

Accreditation statement
Joint Accreditation LogoIn support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Optum Health Education and UnitedHealth Group, Medical and Health & Safety. Optum Health Education is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the health care team.

Credit designation statements

Nurses
The participant will be awarded up to 1.00 contact hour(s) of credit for attendance and completion of supplemental materials.

Nurse practitioners
The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Program (AANPCP) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME and ANCC.

Pharmacists/Pharmacy technicians
This activity is approved for 1.00 contact hours ([0.10] CEU) in states that recognize ACPE.
Attending the full program will earn 1.00 contact hours.
Unique Activity Number(s): JA0007123-9999-23-021-L99-P/T

Physicians
Optum Health Education designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

PAs
The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME.

Psychologists
Optum Health Education is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to offer continuing education for psychologists. Optum Health Education maintains responsibility for this program. 1.00 CE hour.

Social workers
ACE LogoAs a Jointly Accredited Organization, Optum Health Education is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Optum Health Education maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive 1.00 live continuing education credits.

Counselors and/or marriage and family therapists
CA: The Board of Behavioral Sciences has deferred CE course approvals to APA and ASWB for its licensees. See those approvals under Psychologists and Social Workers.
Other States: If your state is not specifically listed, nearly all state Counselor and MFT boards accept either APA or ASWB approval, or are reciprocal with other state licensing board approvals. Check with your board to be sure.

Attendance
A certificate of attendance will be provided to learners upon completion of activity requirements, enabling participants to register with licensing boards or associations that have not been pre-approved for credits. To apply for credit types not listed above, participants should use the procedure established by the specific organization with which they wish to obtain credit.

Available Credit

  • 1.00 ACPE - Pharmacists
  • 1.00 ACPE - Pharmacy Technicians
  • 1.00 AMA - Physicians
  • 1.00 ANCC - Nurses
  • 1.00 APA - Psychologists
  • 1.00 Attendance - General Attendance
  • 1.00 ASWB - Social Workers
Please log in to register.

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