27 September 2021

This week I attended two webinars on the topic of data and analytics. One event was a business summit that showcased data analysis, information and related projects completed by regional companies. The presentations focused on data projects aimed at growing market presence, streamlining processes, and increasing profitability.

As I watched, I was anticipating (or hoping for) at least one presentation to address data projects from the healthcare field. Perhaps something about the data-driven decisions made to combat Covid-19 infections, community transmissions, vaccine response, and efforts to overcome anti-vax fears and theories. Healthcare data eventually proved to be way beyond the scope of the event but I also would have appreciated something related to the effects of long-term racial disparities on communities of color with respect to maternal and infant mortality rates.

Maternal Mortality: Black mothers are being ignored in the healthcare environment
Serena Williams's childbirth experience brought awareness to several issues in healthcare, including the fact that medical providers tend to discount the knowledge that Black patients have about their own bodies (including those who are medical doctors), and that Black women die at higher rates than other women during the period after childbirth. Her experience also brought light to the issue of infant mortality and other health disparities in the Black community, including comorbidities that further exacerbated survival rates during Covid-19 pandemic.

The data speaks: Black mothers are at higher risk

According to the CDC, Black mothers die from childbirth related causes at a rate three times that of white women. It's not race alone--it's the impact of racism on generations that has led to lower incomes, less access to healthy environments, nutrition and healthcare, effects of crime and sentencing inequities in the criminal justice system and other issues that heap stress on Black people more than others. All of these issues combined contribute to Black mothers and Black babies being at higher risk. Even if Black women are well-educated, living in safer areas with cleaner air, and earn higher incomes and do all that is necessary to improve their outcomes, the disparity in mortality rates still exist.

Discrimination is not their imagination

Irth is a relatively new technology company that has created an app that collected data from Black and brown women who have received maternal services. The data report, released in May 2021, demonstrated that 33% of their subscribers had been ignored or refused help, reflecting the experience described by Serena Williams. This type of direct data collection from the women who experience discrimination is extremely valuable to researchers and can be used by decisionmakers to make the necessary structural changes in their institutions.

Fortunately, the current administration has taken notice. The Biden-Harris administration created the first Black Maternal Health week .

"I call upon all Americans to raise awareness of the state of Black maternal health

in the United States by understanding the consequences of systemic discrimination,

recognizing the scope of this problem and the need for urgent solutions, amplifying the

voices and experiences of Black women, families, and communities, and committing

to building a world in which Black women do not have to fear for their safety, their

wellbeing, their dignity, and their lives before, during, and after pregnancy."

-President Joe Biden

Infant Mortality: Black infants have a lower survival rate with white doctors

In August 2020, CNN Reported that "The mortality rate of Black newborns in hospital shrunk by between 39% and 58% when Black physicians took charge of the birth..." (source: "Physician–patient racial concordance and disparities in birthing mortality for newborns" published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

It was a stunning revelation to most, but likely less so for those of us who have experienced discrimination from healthcare providers, either directly, or indirectly with regard to the care of family members. Similar to the Irth app, the collection of environmental and behavioral data directly at every birth (and without causing a Hawthorne effect with the physicians) would be an effective manner to determine their impacts on the mother and the child, and further determine the changes that can better support them.

Achieving equitable care through data driven decisions
It's past time for healthcare leaders step up to address these issues, too. After all, they have the best access---and the most incentive---to collect and analyze data. However, there does not seem to be any concerted or

(Source, Centers for Disease Control, CDC.gov)

universal push to do so. Medical service/care and operational analytics are data analytics are inherently connected. If healthcare business leaders focus more on the financial aspects when collecting and analyzing data, they do a disservice---and further allow physical harm---to the most vulnerable persons served. #ProtectBlackWomen