HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
Podcast - Data Privacy and Tracking Technology Compliance
Patient Data and Privacy
2022 DSIR Deeper Dive: OCR’s Right of Access Initiative
HIPAA Tips With Williams Mullen - Telehealth After the Pandemic
Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
Webinar: Investigating and Resolving Sexual Assaults on Campus
The Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in 2010, contained a provision (commonly referred to as Section 1557) prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in...more
For the first time in nearly 50 years, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has finalized revisions to regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,...more
A recent “Dear Colleague” letter issued jointly by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education (OCR) places colleges and universities on notice of recent enforcement...more
In a joint “Dear Colleague” letter (DCL) released May 19, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights teamed up with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to make the public aware of both...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) entered into a Voluntary Resolution Agreement (“Agreement”) with CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs (“CHI”) to ensure there are effective communication...more
On July 18, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released its revised Case Processing Manual (CPM), which was last updated in August 2020. The CPM outlines the procedures OCR uses to...more
On July 13, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance to retail pharmacies that refusing to dispense a prescribed medication or making a determination on the suitability of...more
Last month, in Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, P.L.L.C., the Supreme Court denied a petitioner’s right to emotional distress damages in a private action brought under federal anti-discrimination laws. The Petitioner, a...more
The U.S. Department of Education recently announced its intent to amend the regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to “strengthen and protect rights for students with disabilities.” While the...more
The U.S. Department of Education made a recent announcement that it intends to strengthen and protect rights for students with disabilities by amending the regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of...more
To start the process of updating the regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a seminal disability civil rights law that provides protections to elementary, secondary, and postsecondary...more
It may seem as though the pandemic is coming to an end, but while COVID cases are declining, they have not ceased. As the pandemic continues, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights issued...more
On February 4, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) posted FAQs designed to make clear that civil rights protections remain in full force and effect during disasters or...more
OCR recently published a Q&A document providing expectations for compliance with civil rights laws during the pandemic. While OCR is not responsible for enforcing the IDEA, it is responsible for Section 504. Because students...more
On June 9, 2020 the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced it had reached an Early Case Resolution (ECR) with the State of Connecticut and a separate ECR with Hartford Hospital. Both ECRs involve...more
Hospitals, physicians, and other health care providers are facing unprecedented ethical and legal challenges related to the shortage of critical-care resources for patients during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Some...more
Compliance Today (June 2020) - On March 28, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a bulletin reminding healthcare organizations of their obligations under the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Health and Human Services Department Office for Civil Rights issued a bulletin reminding healthcare and other entities receiving federal funds that their anti-discrimination obligations under...more
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a statement yesterday reminding schools, colleges, and universities of their responsibilities to address discrimination and harassment based on race and...more
On February 11, 2019, the United States Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) announced that it has resolved yet another complaint for disability discrimination in healthcare using its Early...more
Most changes we’ve seen from the U.S. Department of Education (Department) these past two-and-a-half years have dealt with sex, gender, race, color, and national origin—not disability—and most have reduced federal oversight,...more
As we mentioned in our article last month, the November 2018 version of the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Case Processing Manual (CPM), deleted a section that was added in March 2018 that allowed...more
Recently, website accessibility has become a hot topic for schools across the country. Over the last year, the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR), has escalated the legal expectation that...more
Reversing the practice under the Obama Administration, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has just issued new internal guidance changing how regional OCR offices will investigate discrimination...more
In Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools, No. 15-497, 2017 WL 685533 (U.S. Feb. 22, 2017), the United States Supreme Court held that administrative exhaustion under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was unnecessary...more