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
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
A federal district court has awarded injunctive relief, including claims processing, after finding that an insurer acting as a third-party administrator (TPA) for a self-insured plan violated Section 1557 of the Affordable...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
Introduction - Recent litigation has once again illustrated the ways in which religious beliefs and bioethics can collide under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination in healthcare by entities...more
On July 7, 2020, we published a client alert regarding the Department of Health and Human Services (the “HHS”) June 19, 2020 rule (“2020 Rule”) modifying the non-discrimination provision (“Section 1557”) of the Patient...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 15, 2020, the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County Georgia. At issue in Bostock was whether an employer could fire an employee for being gay or transgender without...more
Under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”), health programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, or...more
In 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Civil Rights issued final regulations implementing the nondiscrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”), which prohibit the...more
In Baker v. Aetna, (U.S. Northern District Court of Texas, 2017), Charlize Marie Baker filed claims against her employer and Aetna after having been denied benefits under the health plan and the short-term disability plan for...more
On December 31, 2016, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction blocking the implementation or enforcement of Section 1557’s provision extending the definition of sex...more
In a series of tweets published on July 26, 2017, President Trump announced a ban on transgender service in the armed forces. In the wake of this reversal of government policy, employers may question the current state of...more
Employment law has always been on the cutting edge when it comes to emerging societal issues. Like little microcosms, the workplace reflects society as a whole. The healthcare industry is no exception. All people, regardless...more
Although bathroom use seems to be at the forefront with the media in regards to transgender issues; there are several other issues to consider, and the final rule on health plan nondiscrimination is no exception. Transgender...more
In May 2016, the Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) issued a Final Rule implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Section 1557 prohibits “covered...more
Earlier this year the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) finalized regulations that implement Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”). You can read our prior discussions of these regulations...more
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity), age, or disability under any health program or activity that receives...more
This past May, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin,...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently published its Final Rule implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among other grounds, sex in...more
In Depth - On Friday, May 13, 2016, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) finalized regulations that provide explicit protections from discrimination on the basis of gender...more
Discrimination in health care was prohibited before the Affordable Care Act, but on a limited basis. Protected classes did not include sex; prohibitions excluded private physicians accepting Medicare Part B; and, most...more