Implicit Bias in Health Care

Equity of care, cultural competence, implicit bias, diversity, patient health management, population health, and their connection to federal law and informed consent liability can be among the most challenging of myriad legal mandates for health care providers.  Long described as just “doing the right thing,” culturally competent health care is now a legal imperative, with significant implications for physicians and health care providers’ practices, livelihoods, and the health of their patients. Academic studies demonstrate that culturally competent, civil rights compliant care reduces costs while also driving new business, attracting new customers, increasing workplace productivity, improving patient outcomes, and heightening medical staff satisfaction.

In this class, we will discuss the new legal landscape of cultural competence and the consequences for providers. We will examine health care diversity and inclusion, implicit bias, its daily manifestations in health care and everyday life, including organizational culture and the BLM movement and protests. We will discuss how to identify such bias and how to minimize its influence on vital health care and professional decision making. We will analyze federal health care civil rights laws and apply them to real life health care situations while providing students with behind the scenes information about little known court decisions, leadership courtroom testimony, and health care defense practices that tipped the balance in multiple courtrooms across the United States.