The Health and Human Services Department is investigating four medical schools and hospitals on allegations of discrimination in their medical education, training or scholarship programs.
The agency said Friday it received complaints the four HHS-backed institutions, which were not identified, allegedly chose participants based on race, sex, color or national origin, violating an executive order President Donald Trump signed Jan. 21, his second day in office. The order calls for federal agencies to enforce long-standing civil rights laws and “to combat illegal private sector [diversity, equity and inclusion] preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities.”
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HHS did not immediately respond to questions about what institutions were involved. The American Hospital Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges declined comment.
In a March 2024 report, the association for medical schools identified a lack of diversity and inclusion in the physician workforce as a “core strategic priority to address” and said more research and policies were needed to “combat the endemic structural racism that harms our current physician workforce, damages our ability to create a more diverse and inclusive physician workforce, and impedes a diverse population from receiving equitable health care.”
The HHS investigations are part of a long-term plan detailed in Executive Order 14173, which requires each government agency to complete nine potential civil compliance investigations of corporations, associations, foundations and institutions of higher education with endowments of more than $1 billion.
DEI initiatives have been under fire since the executive order, with many organizations across all industries, including healthcare, removing mentions of DEI from their platforms to avoid potential repercussions.
