Harvard-affiliated hospital mandates anti-racism training, despite Trump's Critical Race Theory ban
Mass General Brigham, a Massachusetts hospital system associated with Harvard University, is implementing an antiracism plan.
According to its website, MGB receives nearly $2 billion in federal funding.
Mass General Brigham, a 12-hospital network affiliated with Harvard University, released a plan titled “United Against Racism.”
According to a letter to MGB affiliates, the hospital system’s administration expects the initiative to be a “multimillion-dollar commitment,” although no specific budget was given.
The plan calls on the hospital system to raise its “collective voice” to encourage “equity and anti-racism.” The plan will emphasize increasing staff diversity, removing racial bias from patient care, and addressing broader social issues that lead to poor health.
For instance, to increase racial awareness among staff, MGB will “implement system-wide anti-racism and anti-harassment training for all staff.” It will also create a platform that staff can use to report racist incidents, which the hospital will in turn investigate.
In terms of patient care, MGB will distribute iPads and medical monitoring equipment to increase community access to digital healthcare. MGB will also “eliminate racialized medicine by removing the inappropriate use of race in clinical decision tools and policies.”
Other medical schools have amended diagnostic tests so that they do not include race. In one recent instance, the University of Wisconsin School of Medical made a policy change so that it will not ask about race on a particular kidney function exam, even though it “could have the unintended consequence to misclassify the stage of kidney disease for about 10% of patients.”
[RELATED: UW med school risks ‘misclassifying’ kidney disease to ‘address systemic racism’]
In spite of recent moves by the Trump administration against the use of critical race theory by federal contractors, MGB will also “establish anti-racist policy strategy to guide decision making in government and commercial payer contracts.”
According to its website, MGB receives nearly $2 billion in federal funding.
Campus Reform reached out to Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft
