Practical Implications of Racial Bias in Electronic Health Care Records: Mary Catherine Beach, MD, MPH

Electronic health records were more likely to include comments that undermined the competence and sincerity of Black patients, according to a recent study published in PLoS One.¹

The research from Mary Catherine Beach, MD, MPH, a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and her team was aimed at bridging communication between patients and clinicians and finding new treatments for pain management in patients with sickle cell disease. She was “stunned” by some of the feedback she received while canvassing the Black community for their patient experiences.

Often, some of the patients with sickle cell disease in her research expressed conflict when communicating with their physicians. She said some individuals had their credibility and severity of pain questioned when expressed to a health care provider. After hearing this, Beach believed that these experiences weren’t likely isolated to patients with sickle cell disease—which primarily impacts Black individuals—but Black patients as a collective.²

In an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®), Beach breaks down the findings of her study to address the practical implications and what this means for quality health care for minority individuals.

References

1. Beach MC, Harrigian K, Chee B, et al. Racial bias in clinician assessment of patient credibility: evidence from electronic health records. PLoS One. Published online August 13, 2025. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0328134

2. Data and statistics on sickle cell disease. CDC. May 15, 2024. Accessed August 13, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/sickle-cell/data/index.html

3. McCrear S. Electronic health records suggest racial bias in assessment of patients’ claims. AJMC. August 13, 2025. Accessed September 18, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/electronic-health-records-suggest-racial-bias-in-assessment-of-patients-claims

4. Lubeck D, Agodoa I, Bhakta N, et al. Estimated life expectancy and income of patients with sickle cell disease compared with those without sickle cell disease. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(11):e1915374. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.15374