On March 7, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is investigating four medical schools and hospitals under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (Section 1557).

The investigations are in response to allegations OCR received that certain medical schools and hospitals that receive HHS funding may operate medical education, training, or scholarship programs that discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, or sex. 

HHS stated that the investigations align with President Trump’s Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.

“Today’s actions restore merit-based opportunities in medicine and signify that hard-working health care professionals and high-achieving students in the pipeline for medical and nursing fields should not be demeaned at work, or excluded from professional or scholarship opportunities, because of their race or sex,” said Anthony Archeval, Acting Director of the OCR at HHS, in a statement.