Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has reached an agreement with the government to resolve allegations that the center violated federal anti-discrimination laws when treating pregnant Black, Latino and other patients of color, officials said Thursday.

Two months ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights told Cedars-Sinai that its investigation "raised concerns that the standard of care provided to black patients is lower than that of white patients, particularly in cases of obstetric hemorrhage and During obstetric hemorrhage.”

However, that November letter said the agency had not made any final determination on whether Cedars-Sinai violated federal anti-discrimination regulations.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights said in a statement Thursday that its review "did not identify any violations of federal law by the medical center." An agency official said that means no conclusions have been reached.

Under the voluntary agreement, Cedars-Sinai will take steps to improve outcomes for pregnant patients of color, including improving reporting tools to document suspected bias incidents, promoting access to doula services during childbirth, and establishing an early warning system to ensure timely detection, according to the federal agency. and the treatment of critical illness in pregnant patients.

The Office for Civil Rights said it will monitor the settlement agreement for three years. If Cedars-Sinai fails to comply with the agreement, the agency said it reserves the right to continue the investigation.

The agency said that prior to the review, Cedars-Sinai "had undertaken extensive efforts to understand and mitigate the effects of discrimination and bias in health care," including mandatory employee education about unconscious bias.

Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of the office, called it "the first agreement of its kind" for HHS. “We believe the progress, policies and changes made in this agreement are very progressive in terms of what steps we need to take to ensure that Black and brown women do not disproportionately die in hospitals or face bias and discrimination. in our hospital system,” she said Thursday.

Dr. Christina Harris, Cedars-Sinai's chief health equity officer, said in a statement released by the federal agency that Cedars-Sinai welcomes "the opportunity to partner with OCR to strengthen our commitment to all those who entrust us with care." Long-term commitment to fairness.”

The federal review was launched two and a half years ago after the death of Kira Dixon Johnson, a black woman, sparked public outcry and lawsuits. Kira Dixon Johnson was a black woman who died from massive bleeding during a C-section at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Her husband, Charles Johnson, settled after suing Cedars-Sinai and the doctors, but the widower continued to press for change, founding the advocacy group 4Kira4Moms to prevent maternal deaths and highlight the inequalities faced by black women. In California, the maternal mortality rate among black patients is more than three times that of white patients, state data shows.

Earlier this week, Charles Johnson and other advocates publicly called on Cedars-Sinai Hospital to acknowledge its "systemic failures in maternal health care and health equity" and establish an independent oversight board to investigate racial disparities in care, and immediately suspend any clinician who engages in inappropriate behavior. Claims involving discrimination or negligence.

Johnson said on Tuesday they planned to stage a protest outside the hospital in February if the demands were not met. "We are committed to continuing these protests until Cedar Sinai takes action and does the right thing," he said.