Mississippi Bill Would Force Physicians to Submit to Implicit Bias Trainings

Legislation introduced in Mississippi would force physicians to undergo implicit bias and “cultural competence” training to renew their license.

The bill was introduced by state Rep. Zakiya Summers, who has led campaigns to advance “educational equity, healthcare access, and racial justice.”

If enacted, the bill would force physicians or osteopaths in general practice, pediatrics, obstetrics, or gynecology to provide proof that they had complete continuing medical education in “implicit bias” and “cultural competence” to renew their license.

The bill defines cultural competence as “the ability to address the health issues of individuals from diverse backgrounds effectively by applying knowledge, empathy, and insight into the views on health that those backgrounds present.”

The bill defines implicit bias as “bias in judgment or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes, including implicit attitudes and implicit stereotypes, that often operate at a level below conscious awareness and without intentional control.”

But the justification for this bill relies on dubious science. 

Implicit bias is not a well-supported scientific concept; the existence of implicit bias is often inferred from metrics on Implicit Association Tests, which are not reliable and do not correlate with real-world behavior. Ohio State University psychology professor emeritus Hal Arkes described the test as “an extremely feeble predictor of behavior.”

Based on these unreliable metrics, implicit bias trainings assert that individuals have hidden prejudices against other races. This creates unwarranted paranoia and inhibitions, which are detrimental to effective healthcare.

Despite this, some states have considered requiring implicit bias training as a condition of medical licensure. Many have rejected these mandates as unnecessary and unwanted.

Many Mississippi medical professionals agree that they should not have to put up with necessary and even harmful trainings to simply practice their profession.