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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Health

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, August 6, 2024

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$297.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will provide guidance on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights' (OCR) recently issued final rule that regulates Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the ACA's nondiscrimination provision. The panel will describe the final rule's requirements and how the rule expands the scope of covered entities, provides an exemption for religious and conscience rights, and governs the use of technology, including AI, in providing patient care. The panel will also discuss the rule's compliance timeline and offer best practices for compliance.

Faculty

Gregory E. Fosheim
Partner
McDermott Will & Emery, LLP

Mr. Fosheim provides counsel on a wide array of corporate, transactional and regulatory compliance matters across the healthcare and life sciences industry. Drawing on his extensive laboratory and public health background, he regularly advises on clinical and diagnostic laboratory matters, anatomic pathology and fertility laboratory compliance. Mr. Fosheim represents hospitals, health systems and physician practice management companies in all aspects of transactional and operational matters, particularly those with regulatory, licensing, accreditation and policy considerations. He has also negotiated several acquisitions and sales of proton therapy centers. Mr. Fosheim also writes, speaks and advises on quality, access and patient empowerment in the provision of equitable healthcare services, with a particular focus on helping covered entities comply with the nondiscrimination provisions of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

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Alice Hall-Partyka
Counsel
Crowell & Moring

Ms. Hall-Partyka counsels payers, providers, and technology companies on a broad range of healthcare regulatory, corporate, and policy matters. She advises healthcare companies that are adapting to evolving laws and regulations, developing new products or services, or seeking to improve their regulatory compliance. She also strategizes with and represents clients that are responding to governmental inquiries and investigations. Ms. Hall-Partyka’s areas of focus include Medicaid and Medicare program requirements, mental health parity, health reform, state regulation of payers and providers, digital health and innovative technologies, and healthcare fraud and abuse. She regularly negotiates healthcare transactions, including management services agreements, data use agreements, pharmacy benefit management contracts, and innovative care delivery arrangements. Further, Ms. Hall-Partyka addresses the legal questions that arise in day-to-day provider and payer operations in areas ranging from licensing to structuring and corporate governance.

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Description

The OCR recently released a final rule, with staggered effective dates beginning July 5, 2024, making key revisions to the regulations interpreting Section 1557 of the ACA. Section 1557 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in health programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. The revised rule restores some of the regulatory provisions repealed in 2020 and expands the rule's scope by adding other provisions to enhance nondiscrimination requirements for healthcare providers.

Key changes in the final rule for providers include: (1) requiring covered entities to build up a Section 1557 compliance program with policies, staff training, and designation of a Section 1557 coordinator; (2) for the first time, interpreting federal financial assistance to encompass Medicare Part B payments; (3) expanding protections related to language assistance and accessibility services; (4) re-codifying HHS' position that the prohibition against discrimination based on sex includes discrimination against LGBTQI+ individuals; and (6) applying Section 1557's nondiscrimination principles to the use of patient care decision support tools including those using AI.

Listen as our expert panel provides an in-depth look at OCR's Section 1557 final rule. The panel will discuss who is now covered under the expansive provisions and the rule's requirements. The panel will also describe the exemption process and offer best practices for compliance.

Outline

  1. Introduction: history of the final rule
  2. Section 1557 final rule
    1. Covered entities
    2. Medicare Part B as federal financial assistance
    3. Protections for LGBTQI+ and pregnant individuals
    4. Use of AI and patient care decision support tools
    5. Language assistance and accessibility
    6. Exemption based on religious freedom and conscience laws
    7. Notice requirements
    8. Compliance timeline/staggered effective dates
    9. Other provisions
  3. Best practices for compliance

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key considerations:

  • How does the final rule expand the scope of covered entities?
  • What protections does the rule reinstate that were removed in 2020?
  • In what ways does the rule govern the use of technology, including AI and telehealth, in healthcare?
  • What compliance and notice requirements are included in the final rule?