Today, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is issuing guidance to US hospital and long-term care facility administrators, reminding organizations of their independent obligations under Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations to ensure that facility visitation policies, including during a public health emergency, do not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of religion; as well as their obligation not to discriminate on other protected bases under federal civil rights laws, against patients or other individuals receiving care. HHS committed to providing this guidance as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s first-ever US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism – PDF. Under CMS regulations, hospitals, long term care facilities, and critical access hospitals, are prohibited from restricting, limiting, or otherwise denying visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability and are required to have written visitation policies, procedures, and practices regarding such prohibitions. OCR enforces the bar on religious discrimination in these regulations.
