(The Center Square) – Cleveland Clinic, one of the nation’s most prominent nonprofit hospital systems, is facing scrutiny from the watchdog group Consumers’ Research, which says the hospital prioritizes political ideology over patient care while benefiting from taxpayer funding.
The group has issued a new Consumer Warning accusing the clinic of embracing an agenda that includes race-based health initiatives, gender ideology, and climate activism under the banner of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Consumers’ Research argues this political pivot takes resources and focus away from the clinic’s core mission: providing affordable, high-quality healthcare. Cleveland Clinic called the report “false and misleading.”
Cleveland Clinic CEO Tom Mihaljevic, who received more than $7 million in compensation in 2023, has publicly said “healthcare is only part of our mission.”
It’s a line that critics say shows that DEI bureaucracy and green initiatives distract from the hospital’s core mission.
Some of the clinic’s more controversial moves include declaring racism a “public health crisis,” creating multiple diversity councils, and implementing race-conscious health programs, the report said.
One such initiative, the Minority Men’s Health Center, prompted a civil rights complaint alleging race-based discrimination in its treatment of patients.
The DEI program at the clinic includes identity-based employee groups, diversity coordinators and recruitment pipelines from historically Black colleges.
Jacqui Robertson, the clinic’s chief of Diversity and Inclusion, said in a 2023 interview that DEI must be “embedded in everything we do,” the report said.
Consumers’ Research says this system reflects a mission that’s inconsistent with a tax-exempt, federally subsidized nonprofit.
“Well, if healthcare is only part of what they do, then maybe the federal and state government should find a different healthcare provider for citizens and we should stop subsidizing the hospital system that, because I’m not really interested – and I don’t know about you – but I’m not really interested in having my tax dollars meant to provide healthcare from people doing something else, doing green boondoggle projects or racial discrimination,” Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told The Center Square in a telephone interview.
In 2016, Cleveland Clinic pledged $7.5 million annually to green energy initiatives; it also announced in 2023 its intentions to be carbon neutral by 2027. Mihaljevic has said climate policy is integral to healthcare, writing, “We must operate in sustainable ways that are good for our planet.”
The clinic’s position on so-called gender-affirming care for minors is among the most controversial.
Cleveland Clinic has provided hormone blockers and other “gender-affirming” treatments to minors, the report says. It also lobbied against Ohio’s SAFE Act, which prohibits such procedures for children. Even after the law passed, the clinic continued to meet with minors to discuss gender questions, the report said.
The Cleveland Clinic says it does not conduct gender-affirming surgeries on people under age 18.
Consumers’ Research has called for lawmakers to reexamine the clinic’s federal funding and tax-exempt status.
“Until every hospital in America stops pushing discriminatory DEI policies, mutilating kids’ bodies, and promoting climate politics,” Hild said, “their government benefits should be thoroughly investigated.”
A spokesman for the Cleveland Clinic denied the report without getting into specifics.
“For more than a century, Cleveland Clinic’s mission has been to care for life, research for health, and educate those who serve,” media relations director Andrea Pacetti wrote. “Cleveland Clinic is a nonpartisan organization, and we neither have nor promote any political agenda. We are in full compliance with all state and federal laws and strongly refute the false and misleading assertions made in this report. The report intentionally shares information that is outdated.”
