ATS Responds to Proposed Rulemaking on Non-Discrimination

The ATS filed comments in response to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Section 1557 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability in Department of Health and Human Services-funded health programs and activities. Section 1557 has the broadest coverage of any federal law governing health care civil rights, including being the first federal law in U.S. history to ban health care sex and gender discrimination.

The scope of 1557 authorities were severely scaled back during the Trump Administration. The proposed rule sought to restore the authority under Section 1557. The ATS comments in support of several policies of the proposed rule supported more equitable access to telehealth services in underserved populations.

The proposed rule included many new policies including:

• Explicitly prohibiting discrimination in the use of clinical algorithms to support decision-making in health care programs and activities.
• Interpreting Medicare Part B for the first time as federal financial assistance, thus bringing providers who accept Medicare Part B reimbursement within the law’s requirements.