Becker's Hospital Review

26 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP POPULATION HEALTH AI mimics recruiter gender bias against women, study warns By Laura Dyrda A rtificial intelligence algorithms used for hiring show a bias for men over wom- en, according to a study from the Uni- versity of Melbourne published in December. e researchers provided resumes to 40 recruit- ers for data analyst, finance officer and recruit- ment officer jobs at UniBank. Twenty of the recruiters received resumes with the candidate's gender and the other half received the same re- sumes with names switched so male candidates appeared to be female and vice versa. e recruiters ranked the resumes and picked the top three for each open role. Six findings: 1. Recruiters ranked male candidates higher despite female candidates having the same experience and qualifications. 2. Researchers then created a hiring algo- rithm to rank candidates based on the re- cruiter's preferences, and the algorithm pro- duced similar biases for male candidates. 3. e algorithms examined the resume for the candidates' previous job durations, ed- ucation and other factors, and placed more weight on time spent in a similar role. 4. e researchers noted results for the finan- cial officer position were "the most troubling" because the recruiters preferred male candi- dates over female candidates regardless of ed- ucation, experience and match to keywords specified as important. "For UniBank, for whom financial positions are core business, this may lead to gendered job sorting based on human preference rather than individual ability," the study authors con- cluded, also stating that the trend is a drain on productivity and human capital maximization. 5. For the data analyst role, women's resumes were ranked higher only when male charac- teristics were present. e recruiters also val- ued experience for this role over educational qualifications, which put women who had career disruptions at a disadvantage. 6. e recruitment officer job required only keyword and education to predict candi- date rankings. e role is traditionally fe- male-dominated, and the recruiters were less consistent with rankings when the male and female names were switched on the resumes. "Our results clearly indicate that the human panel holds unconscious bias that introduces gender bias into the models," the researchers concluded. "e machine also has potential to compound this disadvantage by ranking keywords and experiences against gendered language. We also show that men had slightly more experience and women better match to keyword requirements." e researchers recommended companies provide training programs for human re- sources professionals about gender bias in algorithms for the hiring process, conduct gender audits in hiring, establish quotas to ensure gender balance and develop propri- etary hiring algorithms trained to reduce gender bias. n Epic CEO makes Forbes' '100 most powerful women in the world' list By Laura Dyrda E pic CEO Judy Faulkner appeared on Forbes' 2020 list of 100 most powerful women in the world The list, released Dec. 8, includes women who have influenced politics, social justice and public health. Forbes ranked Ms. Faulkner at No. 74. She is the leader of Epic, a $3.2 billion company based on 2019 sales. During the pandemic, Epic began supporting EHR implementations virtually and worked with 190 health systems this fall to go live with its technology. From September through the end of December, Epic anticipates training 123,000 physicians, nurses and support staff to use its technology. In 2020, the company launched Epic Health Research Network, an online journal to provide insights from data gathered through Epic sys- tems. n Pandemic could disadvantage female physicians for years, researchers say By Mackenzie Bean T he COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting gender disparities in medicine and magnifying the burden on female physicians, ac- cording to Medscape. Julie Silver, MD, an expert in gender equity in medicine, said existing challenges — like unequal pay or promotion opportunities — have col- lided with pandemic-related challenges for women, including height- ened stress and anxiety as well as difficulty balancing work and per- sonal responsibilities. "There are many indications that women are leaving medicine in disproportionately high numbers," Dr. Silver, an associate professor, associate chair, and director of cancer rehabilitation in the physical medicine and rehabilitation department at Boston-based Harvard Medical School, told Medscape. In addition, unconscious gender biases may mean women will be shortchanged in pandemic-related decisions about pay cuts and pri- oritization of operating schedules, Dr. Silver and her colleagues said in a July 31 blog post published in The BMJ. "The ground that women lose now will likely have a profound effect for many years to come, perhaps putting them at a disadvantage for the rest of their careers," they wrote. n

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