Behind a range of medical decisions—prescriptions, specialist referrals, surgeries—lie algorithms that help doctors gauge risks. But these risk calculators often include a controversial variable: a patient's race. At a population scale, race often does correlate with medical outcomes, in part because it acts as a proxy for the influence of other socioeconomic factors on health. But in recent years, U.S. doctors and students reckoning with racism in medicine have questioned the use of algorithms that are adjusted according to race, in part over concerns that they may widen existing health disparities. Their concerns are spurring changes to medical calculators at major medical centers and inspiring a search for race-free alternatives.

一系列医疗决策（处方、专家转诊、手术）的背后是帮助医生评估风险的算法。但这些风险计算器通常包括一个有争议的变量：患者的种族。在人口规模上，种族通常确实与医疗结果相关，部分原因是它可以代表其他社会经济因素对健康的影响。但近年来，美国医生和学生对医学中的种族主义提出质疑，部分原因是担心它们可能会扩大现有的健康差距。他们的担忧促使主要医疗中心的医疗计算器发生变化，并激发了人们对无种族替代品的探索。