Memorial Health’s Discriminatory DEI Pledge

Memorial Health, an Illinois-based health system, is advertising its pledge to hire “diverse” candidates while promoting its commitment to DEI ideology.

According to its “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” (EDI) pledge, the health system will “actively recruit, hire and promote diverse candidates so that our colleagues more accurately reflect the communities we serve.”

“We know diverse perspectives strengthen our teams and our care, and we are committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone can fully engage,” the hospital states on its EDI page. 

Furthermore, Memorial Health participates in the Illinois Health and Hospital Association Racial Equity in Healthcare Progress Report, which requires the hospital to report the racial breakdown of its employees. 

The progress report is a voluntary program that tracks Illinois hospitals’ progress toward “health equity” by assessing various metrics of racial diversity and adherence to DEI ideology.

“What is the self-reported racial/ethnic demographic breakdown of the staffing categories below at your organization,” the first question of the progress report asks, with the categories referring to different racial groups. 

Additionally, the survey asks the “racial/ethnic demographic breakdown” of each hospital’s patient population.

The progress report further asks hospitals and health systems whether their governing board and senior leadership “reflect the organizational commitment to promote racial equity” by having “strategies in place” to support diversity among the hospitals’ board, and what percentage of their organizational staff have completed activities like DEI and anti-racism trainings.

It’s difficult to see the purpose of these questions as they relate to hospitals’ medical goals; there is no evidence that patients receive better care when treated by physicians of the same race, or that having a more racially diverse patient and physician population will lead to better health outcomes.

But looking through Memorial Health’s other statements on DEI reveals the health system’s deep-seated ideological commitment.

For instance, Memorial Health’s EDI page also goes on to note that “every colleague” receives health equity training, and that all providers must take unconscious bias training to renew their Illinois state licenses. 

The role of a healthcare provider is to heal patients, not pursue an ideological agenda. 

And providers should not be racially discriminating against would-be employees in service of misguided racial equity goals.