Civil rights complaints filed over race-based healthcare scholarships

By Elyse Apel
The Center Square

A nonprofit advocacy group has filed federal civil rights complaints against two healthcare systems, alleging their scholarship programs unlawfully exclude applicants based on race.

Do No Harm, a national anti-DEI policy advocacy group, announced last week it submitted complaints to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights against Beacon Health System and Valley Health System.

The group alleges both systems operate student scholarship programs limited to certain racial minorities, in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.

Beacon Health, which has locations in Michigan, offers an “Underrepresented in Medicine Scholarship” that includes a training rotation and stipend for fourth-year medical students. Eligibility is restricted to “traditionally underrepresented racial/ethnic” groups, according to the scholarship’s website.

Valley Health is based in West Virginia and offers a “Minority Healthcare Scholarship,” which awards $5,000 to students pursuing healthcare careers. According to the complaint, applicants are required to be members of a “minority ethnic or racial groups.” The page for that scholarship is no longer active, as is a Facebook post that promoted it.

Do No Harm argues the programs violate both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act by excluding applicants based on race. Both systems also receive federal funding, aid, or grants, according to Do No Harm.

In an exclusive statement to The Center Square, Do No Harm Chairman Stanley Goldfarb said the complaints seek federal intervention to ensure equal access to the scholarships.

“The Civil Rights Act and the Affordable Care Act are clear: racial discrimination is illegal, and federal funds—to which taxpayers of all races contribute—should not be used to support it,” Goldfarb said. “We are asking HHS-OCR to step in and remedy these scholarships so that all qualified medical students can have a fair shot at competing for these programs.”

Goldfarb added the scholarships rely on “illegal racial stereotyping” by assuming “disadvantage” based on race.

“We are asking HHS-OCR to step in and remedy these scholarships so that all qualified medical students can have a fair shot at competing for these programs,” Goldfarb said. “When merit is prioritized at every level of healthcare, patients benefit.”

The Office for Civil Rights will now determine whether to open a formal investigation into the complaints.

Neither Beacon Health nor Valley Health immediately responded to requests for comment.