Commentary

The American Board of Anesthesiology Prods Members to Declare Race and Ethnicity When Accessing Online Services

  • By Do No Harm Staff
  • May 20, 2024

Want to log in to your account at The American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA)? Need to maintain your certification?

First, you will need to decide whether or not to declare your race and ethnicity.

Think you can bypass it? Think again. While a “Prefer not to report” choice exists, the site displays a red-letter announcement to “Please indicate your race and ethnicity below as we work to improve our knowledge of representation in the field of anesthesiology.”

Why?

Figure 1. Login screen to the ABA member website.

Why are ABA members being prompted to choose a racial group before they can access their services? Like all physicians, anesthesiologists need to complete ongoing education to maintain their board certification.  Their employment depends on it.

Why must physicians who have already taken an oath to “do no harm” and treat all patients with the utmost care and dignity give yet another organization data that could be to be distorted in service of racist DEI efforts?

To its credit, the ABA does note in its 2024 Policy Book that data on “gender, race, and ethnicity” is collected on members. This reflects a continuation of a revision made to the Winter 2023 Policy Book, section 7.11: Data Privacy and Security Policy.

Figure 2. ABA Winter 2023 Policy Book Changes document, page 4.
Figure 3. ABA 2024 Policy Book, page 53.

But, again, why? Elsewhere in the Policy Book, it simply states that data can be collected “to conduct research.” But a press release is more revealing, explaining the organization’s decision to collect private ethnicity data on their candidates so “that we are properly supporting” people.

At this point, individuals familiar with today’s equity jargon know that such language is far from innocuous. And the public jargon is clearly having an impact behind the scenes. The ABA proudly highlights it DEI efforts, posting a timeline of changes over the years, including developing a DEI taskforce in 2020.

Figure 4. “ABA DEI Timeline” from the ABA website (click here for expanded view).

According to the timeline, the ABA is taking steps to “increase[e] diversity” in the organization’s volunteer corps and reassessing “policies and practices to promote equitable access to opportunities, resources, and advancement.”

Here’s an alternative path forward: focus on competence, not color. Patients understand this. Professional medical organizations should too.

As Kingbury and Greene noted, “attempts to match patients to doctors on the basis of race hold no promise for producing better care or better outcomes.”  And medical institutions should always put health outcomes for patients above placating activists and furthering race-based preferences.

To that end, almost one year has passed since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action programs in higher education as constitutional violation. A growing number of states have prohibited public funding for DEI programs. The tide is turning.

Yet, racial classifications continue to play a role at the ABA and for anesthesiologists seeking to obtain and maintain board certifications. Why? And when will it end?

Do No Harm believes in making healthcare better for all – not undermining it in the pursuit of a political agenda or identity politics. Do No Harm seeks to highlight and counteract these divisive trends in medicine.

Do you know of policies that promote discrimination in healthcare? Please let us know – securely and anonymously.