In the face of tragic allegations, the Sixth Circuit has held that a patient’s disability discrimination claim against a hospital is not timed barred by the Rehabilitation Act, which borrows a state’s applicable statute of...more
2/2/2022
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Bodily Injury ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Hospitals ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
Section 1557 ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Claims
Judge Frederick Block of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has preliminarily enjoined HHS from revising the Obama-era definitions of sex discrimination under Section 1557 of the ACA. See Walker v....more
8/19/2020
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Discrimination ,
Employee Training ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Health Care Providers ,
LGBTQ ,
Section 1557 ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination
On June 12, HHS issued its new final rule under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act—the Act’s nondiscrimination provision. This final rule revises the Obama Administration’s 2016 regulation in numerous and significant...more
Healthcare providers are under extraordinary pressure in these unprecedented times, and they are deserving of nothing less than our utmost support and gratitude....more
Developments continue under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, the Act’s nondiscrimination provision. For example, the first federal appellate court in the nation (the Sixth Circuit) has recently interpreted the...more
The last several years have seen a dramatic increase in legal activity related to website and mobile application digital accessibility claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care...more
7/8/2019
/ Accessibility Rules ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Digital Assets ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Health Care Providers ,
Mobile Apps ,
Online Platforms ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Webinars ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
On May 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) issued its proposed rule to revise the regulation implementing and enforcing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Act’s Nondiscrimination...more
Last month, a hospital in Louisiana defeated a disability-discrimination claim on summary judgment, and in doing so, provided a road map for healthcare providers defending against such claims. Rosario v. St. Tammany Parish...more
In response to the national opioid crisis, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a public education campaign on the civil rights protections surrounding...more
After two years of undercover inquiries, in which “testers” enlisted by a non-profit requested accommodations for a fictional deaf grandparent, the Southwest Fair Housing Council has filed a disability-discrimination...more
For the second time in a two-to-one ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has revived a relator’s complaint against a home health provider under the False Claims Act after it was dismissed by the...more
In January 2018, HHS unexpectedly announced a newly proposed regulation entitled “Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Healthcare,” which proposes new prohibitions and notice requirements for institutional healthcare...more
In a class-action lawsuit, the Northern District of Illinois has deepened a pre-existing district-court split on a key legal question under Section 1557 of the ACA and, in doing so, explicitly rejected a pivotal HHS OCR...more
In a momentous decision that will certainly garner national attention and be subject to appeal, a district court for the Southern District of California has ruled that Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits...more
On July 10, 2017, the Northern District of Texas stayed its much-watched Section 1557 case (known as the Franciscan Alliance case) pending HHS’s decision to revisit or revise its regulation under Section 1557.
At issue in...more
On May 8th, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion with broad implications for healthcare providers, confirming the importance of ensuring effective communication with deaf or hearing-impaired patients....more
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR), the office tasked with enforcing Section 1557 of the ACA, has a new Director and Deputy Director for Civil Rights. The new Director, Roger...more
This month, twelve deaf individuals filed a federal suit against Banner Health in Arizona alleging discrimination under Section 1557 of the ACA because of an alleged failure to provide effective auxiliary aids. Specifically,...more
On New Year’s Eve, a federal court in the Northern District of Texas granted a nationwide preliminary injunction against two related HHS interpretations of the final Nondiscrimination rule issued under Section 1557 of the...more
This article is the first in a series addressing the new risks facing healthcare providers under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
By now, healthcare providers undoubtedly know about Section 1557 of the Affordable...more
On August 23, 2016, several States and three faith-based healthcare providers filed suit in the Northern District of Texas against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) over HHS’s interpretation of “sex” in...more
In earlier articles, I have called Section 1557 “the future of healthcare discrimination litigation” and the “legal side of health equity.” HHS/OCR’s final rule under Section 1557—which will go into effect on July 18,...more
This week marks the end of National Minority Health Month and its 2016 theme of “Accelerating Health Equity for the Nation.” This month, the HHS Office of Minority Health’s goal was to “raise awareness of the health...more
On September 8, 2015, HHS published its proposed regulations implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. In a previous article on Section 1557, entitled “The Future of Healthcare Discrimination Litigation,” we...more