EXCLUSIVE — Two Midwestern hospital systems are facing civil rights complaints alleging they unlawfully restrict scholarship opportunities based on race, escalating a broader push against diversity-focused programs in medical institutions by the Trump administration.
The advocacy group Do No Harm filed complaints Tuesday with the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights against Beacon Health System and Valley Health System, urging federal investigators to examine whether the programs at two major nonprofit hospital networks violate long-standing anti-discrimination laws.
The complaints argue that both hospital systems, which receive federal funding, are operating scholarship programs that exclude applicants based on race in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
Do No Harm’s complaint targets Beacon Health, an Indiana-based nonprofit with operations in Michigan, which offers an “Underrepresented in Medicine Scholarship” that provides fourth-year medical students with a clinical rotation,
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