Do No Harm Notches Legal Victory After HHS Scraps Discriminatory Biden-Era Rule

RICHMOND, VA; November 10, 2025 – Do No Harm achieved another significant legal victory after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reversed a Biden-era regulation that offered higher federal payments for physicians who implement an “anti-racism” plan. Aimed at treating broad societal disparities regardless of their cause, the “anti-racism” rule encouraged doctors to use race as a primary factor in care over individualized medical treatment.

In 2022, Do No Harm challenged the rule, filing a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-Lasure. Specifically, the lawsuit argued that CMS’s adoption of the “anti-racism” rule unlawfully exceeded the agency’s permissible authority under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).

Following the Trump administration’s reconsideration of its position in the case, CMS removed the challenged racial equity provisions in a new final rule published on November 5, 2025.

“Do No Harm applauds HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz for undoing the unscientific and discriminatory Biden-era rule,” said Stanley Goldfarb, MD, Chairman at Do No Harm. “While masquerading under the misleading ‘anti-racist’ moniker, in practice, these policies injected race-based decision making into the doctor-patient relationship. Such racial discrimination has no place in healthcare. By prioritizing evidence-based policies, HHS is working to rebuild public trust in our medical system.”

Additional Details:

• The case was brought by a Do No Harm Visiting Fellow, Dr. Amber Colville, and a group of states.
• Given CMS’s new rule removing the challenged racial equity provisions, the lawsuit is expected to be voluntarily concluded in the coming weeks.

Click here to read the original complaint.

Click here to read the new rule.

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Do No Harm, established in April 2022, has rapidly gained recognition and made significant strides in its mission to safeguard healthcare from ideological threats. It has over 50,000 members, including doctors, nurses, physicians, and concerned citizens across all 50 states and 14 countries.