Health law: Peer-reviewed article using civil rights law to undermine profitability of ongoing racial segregation in health care

Abstract

In 2008, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest filed a civil rights complaint with the New York State Office of the Attorney General on behalf of its client, Bronx Health REACH. This complaint asserts that 3 prestigious New York City (NYC) health care organizations’ outpatient clinics maintain systems of care that are separate, unequal, and segregated by race. This article considers health care segregation’s past, present, and future; specifically examines 1990s and 2000s-era civil rights complaints in NYC; and offers strategies to improve equity and outcomes in NYC that can be applied in health networks nationwide.