|
Speaker |
Laura A Dixon |
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Industry |
Healthcare |
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Speciality |
Nursing |
|
Available |
All Days |
|
Duration |
120 Minutes |
Description
A Law Every Hospital Should Know: Complying with OCR Section 1557: Discrimination; Interpreters, Required Signs, Assistive Devices, and More
This webinar will discuss a law that applies to all hospitals, including critical access hospitals, and other healthcare providers such as physician offices and nursing homes. Have you posted the required two signs, amended the patient rights statement, trained your staff, and implemented your policies yet? Have you selected an employee, such as a patient advocate, to address any grievances on discrimination?
The law addresses a civil rights law for healthcare providers and others and addresses nondiscrimination, required signs and notices, interpreters, and more under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. It forbids discrimination based on sex, race, color, national origin, age, and disability. It builds on long-standing and familiar Federal civil rights laws. This is the first law to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex (which includes gender, gender identity, and sex stereotyping) in covered health programs and activities. This program will discuss case law regarding several issues important to hospitals and the recent federal register with changes by the OCR to comply with these including not requiring hospitals to perform an abortion if against their religious beliefs and issues related to gender.
This program will also cover the CMS final changes to the hospital CoPs which discuss this law under the Hospital Improvement Rule. CMS noted there were no prohibitions in the hospital CoPs on gender identities which can be a barrier to seeking care. Numerous studies have shown the impact of perceived discrimination when seeking care. Many reports, including an IOM report, found that many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients refrain from disclosing sexual orientation or gender to their health care provider. While CMS decided not to include the law in two separate places they can punt any issue to the OCR.
This webinar will also discuss some proposed changes to OCR Section 1557 and these proposed changes were 204 pages long. These exclude discrimination based upon gender identity and termination of pregnancy from the definition of sex discrimination. This was done to comply with the findings of a federal court case. It would also make changes to the notice and tagline requirements.
Hospitals are required to have a policy on nondiscrimination and must educate their staff. Patients must be notified in a language they can understand and how to file a complaint if they encounter discrimination. Interpreters must be qualified and this will be explained.
This program will help meet the education requirements to ensure your employees know and follow this law. Have you made the required policy changes? Has staff been educated on these new policies which include physicians and mid-level providers? Do you have the requisite signposted? Do you provide information contained in the 15 or so taglines so patients are aware of their right to an interpreter? Have you designated an employee (civil rights coordinator) to work with patients who file a grievance? Case scenarios will be discussed. Resources will be provided such as a list of each state’s 15 taglines and OCR has these in 64 languages. Sample notice to be posted and a sample grievance procedure will also be provided.
Learning Objectives
Outline
Who Should Attend
Risk Manager, Patient Advocates, Consumer Advocates, Healthcare Attorneys, Compliance Officer, Chief Medical Officer, CEO, COO, CNO, Nurse Managers, ED Managers, Physicians, Mid Levels, Policy Committee, Nurses, Nurse Supervisors, Director of Registration, Director of Physician Office Practices, Human Resources, Person in charge of Interpreting Services, Director of Education, and anyone else involved in complying with federal laws and the hospital CoPs.
(BS, JD, RN, CPHRM)
Laura A. Dixon recently served as the Regional Director of Risk Management and Patient Safety for Kaiser Permanente Colorado where she provided consultation and resources to clinical staff. Prior to joining Kaiser, she served as the Director, of Facility Patient Safety and Risk Management and Operations for COPIC from 2014 to 2020. In her role, Ms. Dixon provided patient safety and risk management consultation and training to facilities, practitioners, and staff in multiple states. Such services included the creation of presentations on risk management topics, assessment of healthcare facilities; and development of programs and compilation of reference materials that complement physician-oriented products.
Prior to joining COPIC, she served as the Director, of the Western Region, Patient Safety and Risk Management for The Doctors Company, Napa, California. In this capacity, she provided patient safety and risk management consultation to the physicians and staff in the western United States. Ms. Dixon’s legal experience includes medical malpractice insurance defense and representation of nurses before the Colorado Board of Nursing.
Ms. Dixon has more than twenty years of clinical experience in acute care facilities, including critical care, coronary care, peri-operative services, and pain management.
As a registered nurse and attorney, Laura holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Regis University, RECEP of Denver, a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Drake University College of Law, Des Moines, Iowa, and a Registered Nurse Diploma from Saint Luke’s School Professional Nursing, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She is licensed to practice law in Colorado and California.