This past Friday, HHS issued its final rules for §1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Section 1557 is the civil rights portion of the ACA and prohibits discrimination in health care settings for a variety of populations, including people with disabilities. Links for the final rules as well as the HHS press release and fact sheet are as follows:
Previously, we reported on concerns that AAHD had regarding the proposed rules (see our prior news item). Many of those concerns were disregarded as the final rules eliminated many of the prior protections which existed in the regulations, such as what was a covered entity under §1557 of the ACA. As such, AAHD still has concerns over what these changes mean for the enforcement of §1557 and its effect on the populations it was meant to protect, including people with disabilities.
