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
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
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 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
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