The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued proposed regulations under the nondiscrimination provisions of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The proposed rules restore and augment a number of the nondiscrimination requirements in regulations that were published in 2016, but later stripped away in rules published in 2020. For example, the proposed regulations expand the rules on sex discrimination, expand the entities covered by Section 1557, revise the notice requirements and change requirements regarding policies and training, among other things.
Health care providers, insurers, and plan sponsors should determine whether they are subject to the new rules and consider the changes that they will need to make to comply, particularly to the extent that they made changes based on the 2020 regulations.
Ballard Spahr attorneys covered the proposed rules at length in a legal alert that can be found here.