A top executive at a major healthcare provider whose duties involve placing graduate students at hospitals across the country has said that “diversity” is essential for healthcare and advocated for medical schools to accept students in racially proportional ways.
Dr. Monique Butler, the president of Graduate Medical Education for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) Healthcare, has aggressively pushed DEI and racial quotas. HCA, headquartered in Tennessee, also has a history of championing DEI, though many references to such efforts have been scrubbed from its website in recent months.
Butler was named president of HCA’s graduate medical education program in March 2024. One of the nation’s largest graduate medical education programs, it offers over 300 residency and fellowship programs across 16 states and 79 hospitals with more than 5000 residents and 300 fellows.
According to HCA, it is the “largest sponsor of residency and fellowship programs across the nation” and its facilities handle “five percent of all U.S. hospital services.”
Prior to her work at HCA, Butler pushed for DEI in presentations and speeches and even advocated for medical schools to adopt a sort of racial quota system to ensure their student body was directly proportional to the general population.
“Diversity in health care cannot be a want, it is a must-have,” Butler said during a 2020 speech.
In 2021, she delivered the University of Michigan MLK Health Sciences keynote address, in which she claimed: “race — as well as sex, gender, sexuality, age, social class and ability — can adversely affect opportunities, access, care, treatment and the overall lived experiences of people of color, particularly black people.”
During that speech, Butler also called for medical schools across the United States to admit a directly proportional number of minority students into their programs.
Butler said she was issuing a “call to action” to medical school leaders to “ensure that their student population reflects the population of the United States population,” noting that only 5% of medical school graduates were black despite making up 13% of the population.
“We have some work to do,” she said. 
Butler presentation.
She said that the lower number of black and minority medical school graduates was contributing to “health disparities” in the United States.
In that same lecture, she pushed a now-debunked study that claims that black babies are more likely to die under white doctors’ care.
Butler also made numerous references to George Floyd, claiming that police brutality was a contributor to health “inequality.” She said that curriculum at medical schools across the country should be infused with implicit bias training. 
Butler presentation.
In October 2020, Butler moderated a panel discussion on what she called the “health equity crisis” in the United States. Butler said that governments should be held “responsible” for “neutralizing” the amount of money spent per school district.
Later, in a 2023 lecture, she urged people to be “allies” and urged providers to “challenge” human resources departments to “ensure that there are metrics they are looking” at to ensure “at least” diverse candidates.
Butler has worked for a number of high-profile medical corporations throughout her career and has received numerous glowing profiles. Some of these profiles include DEI-related accomplishments.
For example, an October 2022 University of Michigan School Of Kinesiology alumni profile of Butler reveals that she created something called the Grant Foundation in order to “improve health equity.” One of the purported programs offered by the Grant Foundation is the Pathfinders Scholarship Award, which is given to first-generation and “underrepresented” University of Michigan kinesiology students to “pursue a career in health care.”
The foundation has a small online footprint and is not advertised by the University of Michigan aside from the alumni profile. It is unclear how many students have received the award or how students may apply for the opportunity.
Another program with a scant track record that Butler is said to have created is the “Women Physicians Network,” which is mentioned in a number of Butler’s profiles and again in the congressional record. This network appears to have no online presence and is not registered as a non-profit in Michigan or Florida.
Another profile of Butler reveals that she has “research experience” in health care “disparities” while there appears to be limited evidence of any scholarly articles widely available that Butler has contributed to on disparities.
Her employer, HCA, has also publicly pushed adherence to DEI ideology until relatively recently.
“Our Executive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council informs critical strategic decision making, monitors progress against goals and objectives, and serves as visible and vocal sponsors of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the organization,” HCA posted on its website as of at least October 2024, according to an archived webpage.
“Across HCA Healthcare, our Division Diversity, Equity and Inclusion councils support deployment of key DEI strategies and programs at a local level. These councils are comprised of division leaders and facility representatives who reflect the diversity of the communities we serve,” HCA added.
That page now redirects to a general “mission” statement that doesn’t mention diversity or equity.
When reached for comment about some of its deleted DEI pages, a spokeswoman gave a general comment on the mission of HCA.
“Our focus has always been to foster a culture that exemplifies our company’s mission and values by promoting care and respect for all patients and colleagues, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age or other characteristics, and we will continue to do so,” the spokeswoman said. “Our Culture and Values team continues to lead and facilitate cross-department partnerships that seek to support the delivery of high-quality care for our patients, foster opportunities for colleagues and improve the health of our communities.”
The spokeswoman added that HCA was “continuously looking for ways to build on our longstanding commitment to promoting an environment where everyone feels valued, while also supporting a broader vision of teamwork, respect and shared purpose across all areas of our organization.”
In the past, HCA released reports highlighting its DEI initiatives.
Its 2023 DEI “snapshot” boasted that the group adopted “Joint Commission equity standards to reduce health disparities” and investments in “health equity partnerships.” These investments included $7.42 million to historically black colleges and Hispanic “serving institutions” between 2021 and 2023.
In February 2024, HCA released a report on all the ways the company has incorporated different layers of DEI councils throughout the company.
“HCA Healthcare is focused on fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging for our colleagues through workplace programs, education, diverse talent acquisition, engagement and development,” the company reported.
These efforts include the creation of a black leadership organization, implicit bias training, and “advancing equity for our LGBTQ+ communities.”
HCA also announced that it was working to develop more relationships with “diverse suppliers.”
“We are committed to expanding partnerships with a diverse range of businesses, including those owned and operated by people of color, women, veterans, members of the LGBTQ+ community and members of socially and economically disadvantaged groups,” the report said.
However, many of the DEI-related materials appear to have been removed from the HCA’s website.
The apparent retreat comes amid increasing cultural pressure for companies and universities to abandon DEI principles and focus on merit. This shift comes after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in June 2023, and the executive orders from President Donald Trump cracking down on the federal government’s promotion of DEI.
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