California hospitals and clinics were slow to carry out mandated training intended to combat unconscious bias among workers who care for pregnant patients, the state Department of Justice found in a newly released investigation.

Less than 17% of facilities that provided information to the state agency had initiated “implicit bias training” in the year after California started requiring it for pregnancy and childbirth professionals, according to the report unveiled Friday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The numbers shot up after Bonta prodded health care providers about their training plans: As of summer 2022, more than 93% of medical facilities that responded had trained at least some of their staff, according to the state investigation. By that time, an average of 81% of staff in responding facilities had finished the required training, the investigation found.

Nearly a third of health facilities contacted by the Department of Justice launched their training programs only after the agency reached out to them.

The state law went into effect weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, but Bonta and other officials rejected that as an explanation or excuse for delays, saying the required training could be accomplished through an online video.

Distributed by Tribune News Service.