Do No Harm Submits Comment Backing Repeal of ‘Anti-Racism’ Rule

This week, Do No Harm submitted a comment in support of a proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to repeal a rule pressuring doctors to implement “anti-racism” plans.

The rule, passed by the Biden administration in 2021, required clinicians participating in CMS’s Merit-Based Payment System (MIPS) – a program that rewards clinicians for improving the quality of patient care and outcomes – to ensure their policies and clinical guidelines are “aligned with a commitment to anti-racism.”

Moreover, the rule instructed clinicians to apply CMS’s 2021 Disparities Impact Statement, which told clinicians to “[s]tratif[y] measures and health outcomes by race and ethnicity” and to identify the “population(s)” they will “prioritize.”

As Do No Harm’s comment argues, this effectively encourages racial discrimination while endorsing the noxious, harmful ideology of anti-racism, which definitionally supports “present discrimination” to remedy discrimination in the past.

“The Anti-Racism Rule was itself—and further promoted—unlawful racial discrimination,” the comment states. “Race-based classifications are unconstitutional, even if they aim to reduce disparities.”

The proposed repeal is welcome news and a long time coming.

In fact, just a few months after our founding, Do No Harm supported a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the rule.

With Do No Harm’s help, Dr. Amber Colville, a visiting fellow at Do No Harm, sued the Biden administration, arguing the “anti-racism” rule was illegal. This was the first lawsuit Do No Harm supported.

Do No Harm commends the Trump administration for taking action to repeal this harmful rule.

The federal government has no business promoting anti-racist ideology and divisive practices which are incompatible with the promise of racial equality embedded in our Constitution.