Eliminating Race-Based Medicine

Race-based medicine has been pervasively interwoven into the fabric of health care delivery in the United States for more than 400 years. Race is a historically derived social construct that has no place as a biologic proxy. This policy statement explores the elimination of race-based medicine as part of a broader commitment to dismantling the structural and systemic inequities that lead to racial health disparities. It specifically addresses race-based medicine, characterized as the misuse of race as a corrective or risk-adjusting variable in clinical algorithms or practice guidelines. The historic roots of race-based medicine and current reconsiderations are also discussed.