Mid-Atlantic Health Law TOPICS
Minority Care Programs
The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (DHHS-OCR) has opened an investigation regarding Cleveland Clinic’s Minority Stroke Program and Minority Men’s Health Center (the Programs).
WLL Complaint
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WLL) filed a complaint with DHHS-OCR on August 14, 2024, on behalf of their client, the conservative policy group “Do No Harm.”
The complaint alleged that Cleveland Clinic violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by treating white individuals differently than certain racial and ethnic minorities through the Programs.
Cleveland Clinic is a private entity, and the Programs are designed to address conditions that disproportionately affect minority men. However, as a recipient of federal funding, Cleveland Clinic is subject to antidiscrimination laws that forbid discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity or national origin.
WLL argues that the Programs violate Title VI and the ACA by prioritizing certain racial minorities for “services and benefits in a different manner from those provided to others” and attempting to ensure “proper racial balance” by assuming that a person needs a particular type of care effort based on race.
DHHS-OCR Response
On September 10, the agency informed WLL that it had “determined that [HHS] has sufficient authority and cause to investigate the allegations.”
This investigation follows the Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in higher education, where the Court said that everyone must be treated as “individuals” and not as “components of a racial or national class.”
Kennedy Hagens
410-576-4146 • khagens@gfrlaw.com