Segregation in Health Care
Structural racism is deeply embedded in US health care. Legally sanctioned racial segregation in hospitals ended with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with fiscally incentivized enforcement through Medicare payment structures implemented in 1966. Yet, practices such as sorting patients by insurance status still perpetuate de facto racial and class segregation, especially in academic health centers. This theme issue investigates a clear health justice demand to definitively end continued normalization of structural racism everywhere we care for our ill and injured. This issue considers sources of ethical, clinical, public health, and educational responsibilities to remediate health injustice where students and trainees learn their professions and internalize professional norms.