NCD supports HHS OCR Request for Information

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                              

WASHINGTON—The National Council on Disability (NCD) has signaled to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) its strong support of HHS’s Office of Civil Rights’ (OCR) Request for Information.

In a letter to Acting HHS Secretary Norris Cochran, NCD Chairman Andrés Gallegos affirmed findings of OCR’s January 15 RFI “Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Critical Health and Human Services Programs or Activities,” urging continued regulatory action in the form of proposed rulemaking.

“Despite the existing federal nondiscrimination mandates in the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, NCD can attest that discriminatory biases and practices aimed at persons with disabilities still permeate, systemically, our nation’s health care system,” wrote Chairman Gallegos. “Based on our body of research, we affirm the RFI’s findings, which outline pervasive and well-documented discrimination against people with disabilities pertaining to organ transplant distribution, quality of life assessments, suicide prevention programs and services, crisis standards of care, child welfare and social services, and access to medical equipment.”

NCD has briefed HHS’s Office of Civil Rights officials on research in these areas, which greatly informed the development of the RFI.

“NCD strongly supports this RFI and continued regulatory action in the form of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and, ultimately, final rulemaking,” wrote Chairman Gallegos.

Read the full letter at NCD.gov.