A conservative medical advocacy group called “Do No Harm” is suing the “Find a Black Doctor” directory, claiming this program racially discriminates against non-Black doctors. Dr. Dina Strachan, a New York dermatologist, launched the website in 2005 and later expanded it to all 50 states to help Black people connect with Black doctors, a process that is often challenging because Black doctors are underrepresented in the workforce. Similar to efforts to ban race-based affirmative action policies, this is being done under the guise of colorblindness. But, given the medical racism Black patients endure, axing a program designed to help them connect with Black doctors may cause harm.

Research suggests Black people report better outcomes when receiving care from Black doctors. For instance, one study found that racial concordance, meaning the patient and clinician share the same race, was predictive of better health outcomes. Participants reported lower satisfaction with the quality of communication from non-Black providers. They had shorter visits, received less information, and reported that physicians did most of the talking, made less eye contact, and engaged in less partnership building and participatory decision-making. In other words, the study published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities showed that many Black patients didn’t feel they were treated fairly by non-Black doctors.

Preventive healthcare is also impacted by racial concordance. In a National Bureau of Economic Research study, researchers randomly assigned 1,490 Black men in Oakland, California, to either Black or non-Black physicians. Their investigation revealed that Black men were more likely to agree to invasive screenings when paired with a Black physician, 49% more likely to agree to a diabetes screening, and 71% more likely to agree to a cholesterol screening. Likewise, a report found that Black women also have better outcomes with a doctor of the same race. Their visits were longer (84% compared to 76%), they were more likely to have things explained in a way they could understand, and to engage in shared decision-making. Yet within a three-year period, 63% of Black women had less than half of their appointments with a healthcare provider of the same racial or ethnic background (Schumacher et al., 2024). One in five Black women reported they were treated unfairly by a healthcare provider due to their race.

The lawsuit against the “Find a Black Doctor” directory overlooks research that shows diversity improves health outcomes for Black patients. Instead of accusing the program of prejudice, we should confront the disparate treatment they receive. For instance, Snyder et al. (2023) found that a 10% increase in Black primary care physicians’ representation was associated with a 30.61-day increase in life expectancy and a lower mortality rate among Black individuals (12.71 deaths per 100,000). A study published in the Journal of Health Economics found that when Black patients in Florida hospitals were paired with a Black physician, their likelihood of dying in a hospital dropped by 27% relative to their overall average mortality rate (Hill et al., 2023). Since research suggests Black people are more likely to receive higher-quality treatment from someone of the same race, it’s misleading to suggest a program connecting Black and doctors is rooted in prejudice. While some may see the directory as evidence of “reverse racism,” this is a survival tactic, a way of increasing the likelihood of a positive health outcome.

Racism persists within the healthcare industry. Black patients are more likely to be admitted to lower-quality hospitals (Akré et al., 2024). The rate at which Black women die from pregnancy-related complications is 3–4x that of White women (Howell, 2018). When Black patients report pain to healthcare providers, they are less likely to be believed. Hoffman et al. (2016) found that 40% of first-year medical students believed Black people had thicker skin than White people and thus didn’t need the same level of treatment. Historically, medical diagnostic tools have contributed to inaccurate diagnostic outcomes. In 2022, the Yale New Haven Health System stopped using an outdated method to assess patients’ kidney health, which relied on the false belief that “Black patients have more muscle mass than white patients.” Including race in their calculation led physiologists to believe that Black patients’ kidney function was “21% [higher] relative to non-Black patients, regardless of other factors,” according to Louis Hart, MD, the medical director in the Office of Health Equity at YNHHS.

While the lawsuit attempts to prohibit the use of the “Find a Black Doctor” directory, a study published in the British Medical Journal found that “African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American patients reported greater satisfaction with care if their doctor was of the same race or ethnic background than if their doctor was of a different background” (Tanne, 2002). So, Black people are not the only ones with this preference. The fact of the matter is that “patients who could choose their doctor were more likely to be of the same race as the doctor, compared with patients who could not choose.” While many in the modern era claim to endorse a colorblind worldview, research indicates that race impacts our experiences in personal and professional settings. We have to reckon with that reality. Rather than eliminating this program, we should encourage more research into this phenomenon and invest resources that improve Black health outcomes in the care of non-Black doctors.

While the conservative group that filed the lawsuit is called “Do No Harm,” their name is ironic. Given that medical racism persists, and Black people report better health outcomes with same-race doctors, removing this program may cause harm. Their lawsuit claims the “Find a Black Doctor” directory “openly discriminates against doctors by race” by limiting “eligibility to Black physicians and dentists in an active practice.” But what about the racism that Black people endure within the healthcare industry, which diminishes their quality of care? While some are attempting to enforce a race-neutral approach, they’ve overlooked why such a program was needed in the first place. In the absence of this program, Black patients are expected to roll the dice and hope they’re treated fairly. Regardless of the results of this case, Americans should acknowledge there are legitimate reasons why Black people often seek care from same-race doctors. As it stands, they’re trying to eliminate the use of “race” without addressing the racism that persists in our society. And in doing so, they’re jeopardizing the health and well-being of Black patients.