HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR
Updates to Statute 1557 that Healthcare Providers Need to Know
On May 6, 2024, OCR published the final rule interpreting and implementing Section 1557 at 45 C.F.R. § 92 (the Final Rule). The Final Rule regulates the use of patient care decision support tools, including AI algorithms for...more
In April 2024, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule reinterpreting Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex,...more
On December 5, 2024, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a “Dear Colleague” letter reiterating obligations that covered entities have under the May 2024 final rule related...more
Applicable Provider Types: All - Is Your Entity in Compliance? Recent regulatory language makes clear that most healthcare providers must provide free translators or interpreters for patients with limited English...more
On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce (Loper Bright), overturning Chevron U.S.A. Inc v. Natural...more
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
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued final regulations implementing Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will restore and expand the scope of civil rights...more
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability, or any combination thereof, in a health program or activity, any part of which is...more
On May 6, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published the long-awaited Nondiscrimination in Health Programs...more
In a recent On the Subject (available here), we reported on the impact of the final rule (final rule) interpreting Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on self-funded group health plans that contract with licensed...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Following years of back and forth, new final rules were published by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on May 6, 2024 reinstituting the Department’s interpretation that the prohibition on...more
On May 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published their final rule on nondiscrimination in the Federal Register...more
In a Final Rule issued on May 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) finalized regulations implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”). The Final Rule updates and...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Office of the Secretary (collectively, HHS) released on May 6, 2024, the agencies' Final Rule governing the implementation of...more
Joining host Ericka Adler on the first #HealthlawHotSpot of 2024 is fellow Roetzel healthcare attorney Christina Kuta. Ericka and Christina will break down statute 1557 that prohibits discrimination from healthcare providers...more
On November 15, 2023, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its updated Language Access Plan (Updated Plan) to further ensure that the limited English proficiency (LEP) community and individuals with...more
The U.S. government entered into two recent settlements with healthcare providers who allegedly denied deaf and hearing-impaired patients or their caregivers auxiliary aids for effective communication. These settlements...more
On Aug. 4, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published its proposed rule, Nondiscrimination in Health Care and Activities (Proposed Rule), to revise its regulations pertaining to Section 1557 of the...more
On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced that the prohibition against discrimination “on the basis of sex” under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”) once again includes...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A Federal Court has temporarily enjoined the Trump administration from putting into effect its recent rule that strips the Affordable Care Act of its gender identity protections....more
On June 19, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) released its final rule (the “Final Rule”) revising its enforcement of Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). In this...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently proposed regulations that scale back nondiscrimination protections under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The new regulations, proposed on May 24,...more
On May 24, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights issued a proposed rule reversing certain provisions of its 2016 rule prohibiting certain forms of discrimination under Section 1557 of the...more
There has been confusion as to whether the Affordable Care Act’s nondiscrimination provision (“ACA”) affects a covered entity’s notice of privacy practices (“NPP”) or data breach notifications. OCR has issued guidance...more
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs or activities. Covered Entities that receive Federal financial...more