Medical group debunks recent study on racial concordance, says patient outcomes not improved by philosophy

By Tate Miller
The Center Square

Medical group Do No Harm released a report Tuesday that it says debunks a study on racial concordance, with a Do No Harm leader stating that matching a patient with a doctor of the same race does not improve medical outcomes.

Do No Harm’s director of research Jay Greene told The Center Square: “This is one of multiple reports we’ve produced at Do No Harm, in service of our mission to end the harmful and unscientific practice of identity politics in medicine.”

“While the theory of racial concordance has been thoroughly debunked, liberal economists, activists, politicians, and the media continue to uncritically cite it as fact,” Greene said.

Greene refers in part to the study by economists Michael Frakes and Jonathan Gruber that Do No Harm’s new report focuses on.

The study from the economists “claims racially diverse military medical facilities improve care for black patients,” as stated in a Do No Harm news release.

Greene told The Center Square that “by attempting to artificially increase the number of doctors from any racial group, medical schools and hospitals inevitably begin to prioritize identity over merit and excellence.”

“It is wrong to elevate the interests of DEI activists over exceptional treatment for patients,” Greene said.

“Racial concordance does not lead to improved patient outcomes, and we will continue to use good information to combat misinformation wherever it exists,” Greene told The Center Square.

Do No Harm (DNH) is an organization of “physicians, nurses, medical students, patients, and policymakers focused on keeping identity politics out of medical education, research, and clinical practice,” as stated on its website.

In a release on its recent report, DNH said that Frakes and Gruber’s study concerning racial concordance “fails to actually examine whether black patients have better outcomes when treated by black doctors, and buries a key finding that undermines the thrust of the study’s conclusion.”

DNH stated that “the study buries the finding that black patients actually do best when treated by non-black doctors in facilities that happen to have more black doctors.”

This “undermines the claim that black patients need to be served by black doctors,” DNH said.

Additionally, DNH said that Frakes and Gruber offer “two flawed explanations for the study’s claims.”

One explanation is that “black doctors teach their peers how to better connect with black patients” and the other is “the presence of black doctors in hallways increases black patients’ trust in non-black providers.”

DNH said that the study “relies on debunked research” and “fails to cite systematic reviews that already found no evidence that racial concordance benefits patients.”

“The Frakes and Gruber study appears scientifically rigorous and is authored by economists from high-status universities, but a closer examination of its methods, results, and motivation reveal it to be scientifically unsound and an abuse of academic authority,” DNH stated in its report.

DNH has taken stands against racial concordance in the past, with its chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb once calling the philosophy “a thoroughly debunked theory that only breeds suspicion and prejudice,” The Center Square reported.

In August 2025, Do No Harm filed a lawsuit against a Philadelphia-based directory of Black physicians and consequently opened the directory up to all races.

Frakes has not yet responded to The Center Square’s request for comment.