On September 14, 2023, the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers (“HHS”) printed a proposed rule updating Part 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Part 504”). The brand new rule entitled Discrimination on the Foundation of Incapacity in Well being and Human Service Applications or Actions(the “Proposed Rule”) is the primary main regulatory replace to Part 504 in almost 50 years. Part 504 prohibits discrimination towards people on the idea of incapacity in packages and actions that obtain Federal monetary help (“FFA”) or are carried out by a Federal company. Part 504 covers all well being care and human companies packages and actions funded by HHS, from suppliers, like hospitals and medical doctors that settle for Medicare or Medicare, to state baby welfare packages, in addition to Medicare Benefit Plans, and Medicaid Managed Care Plans.
In a press launch, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra described the Proposed Rule as “advanc[ing] justice for individuals with disabilities and assist[ing] guarantee they aren’t subjected to discrimination underneath any program or exercise receiving funding from HHS simply because they’ve a incapacity.” HHS is proposing to amend the regulation to make clear the obligations imposed on packages and actions that obtain FFA, and to enhance consistency with the People with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the “ADA”), the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (the “ADAAA”), amendments to the Rehabilitation Act, and vital case legislation.
Feedback could also be submitted till November 13, 2023. When you’ve got any questions concerning the proposed rule, or when you want help in submitting feedback to HHS, please attain out to any of the authors of this put up.
New Provisions Addressing Discrimination on the Foundation of Incapacity Underneath Part 504
The Proposed Rule clarifies the appliance of Part 504 in a number of key areas highlighted beneath.
- Medical remedy. To fight incapacity discrimination in medical remedy, the Proposed Rule would explicitly prohibit disability-based discrimination within the context of well being, welfare, and different social companies, underscoring that the prohibition broadly applies to medical remedy choices made by recipients of FFA. These embrace, for instance, choices about life-sustaining remedy, organ transplantation, rationing care in emergencies, and different very important medical choices.
- Worth evaluation strategies. To ascertain whether or not a specific intervention, similar to a drugs or remedy, can be offered and underneath what circumstances, well being care organizations usually use a wide range of strategies to judge whether or not the advantages of the intervention outweigh the prices. The Proposed Rule prohibits using worth evaluation strategies that place a decrease worth on life-extension for people with disabilities when that methodology is used to restrict entry or to disclaim aids, advantages, and companies.
- Baby welfare packages and actions. The Proposed Rule clarifies necessities in HHS-funded baby welfare packages and actions to assist eradicate discriminatory boundaries confronted by youngsters, mother and father, caregivers, foster mother and father, and potential mother and father with disabilities, similar to the place recipients are utilizing the presence of a incapacity or a person’s IQ rating alone as a motive for removing of a kid, prohibiting disabled mother and father from serving as foster mother and father, or failing to position disabled youngsters who want companies in probably the most built-in settings acceptable to their wants.
- Net and cellular accessibility. The Proposed Rule defines what accessibility means for internet and cellular purposes and units forth particular technical requirements for compliance with Part 504, utilizing the identical requirements set forth in a just lately proposed rule from the Division of Justice (the “DOJ”) underneath Title II of the People with Disabilities Act.
- Accessible medical tools. The Proposed Rule adopts the U.S. Entry Board’s accessibility requirements for medical tools to deal with equipment-related boundaries similar to examination tables which can be inaccessible as a result of they aren’t height-adjustable, weight scales that can’t accommodate individuals in wheelchairs, and mammogram machines that require a person to face to make use of them.
- Integration. The Proposed Rule clarifies obligations to offer companies in probably the most built-in setting acceptable to an individual’s wants.
New & Revised Provisions to Guarantee Consistency with Statutory Modifications, Supreme Courtroom Rulings, and Different Case Legislation
The Proposed Rule additionally seeks to include adjustments which can be essential to replicate developments which have occurred within the fifty years since Part 504’s passage, together with amendments to Part 504, the enactment of the ADA and the ADAAA, and vital case legislation. The Rehabilitation Act (which incorporates Part 504), the ADA, and the ADAAA are carefully linked, and courts have usually interpreted Part 504 persistently with Title II of the ADA. Due to this, the Proposed Rule seeks to create parity between Part 504 and the ADA and ADAAA so as to add readability to Part 504’s software and scope.
Most vital among the many adjustments are revisions to the definition of “incapacity” to deliver Part 504 in step with the ADAAA, which sought to make sure that the time period “incapacity” – in each the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act – can be “construed broadly in favor of expansive protection” to the utmost extent attainable. The proposed definition states that, with respect to a person, incapacity means “(i) a bodily or psychological impairment that considerably limits a number of of the most important life actions of such particular person; (ii) a document of such an impairment; or (iii) being considered having such an impairment as described in paragraph (f) of this part.” The Proposed Rule would allow a person to determine protection utilizing any of those three prongs.
In mild of the COVID-19 public well being emergency and following 2021 steerage from HHS and the DOJ, the Proposed Rule would add “lengthy COVID” to the record of bodily and psychological impairments which can qualify a person as having a incapacity. The Proposed Rule additionally considerably expands the record of main life actions to be thought-about in figuring out whether or not an individual has a incapacity and states that the time period “main” “shouldn’t be interpreted strictly.”
Lastly, to keep up consistency with the ADA, the Proposed Rule seeks so as to add new subparts to 45 C.F.R. Half 84, Nondiscrimination on the Foundation of Handicap in Applications or Actions Receiving Federal Monetary Help. The brand new subparts (Subpart G – Common Necessities and Subpart H – Communications) would come with, for instance, new sections on retaliation or coercion, private companies and units, service animals, and communications.
