The final Affordable Care Act (ACA) rule on the statute’s section 1557 requires that all health care providers receiving federal funds post in a conspicuous public space in their offices a “Notice of Nondiscrimination” prior to this coming Oct. 17, 2016. Federal funding generally refers to those providers accepting Medicare and Medicaid patients, or participaing in other federal health programs.

In addition, these covered entities must post a short statement (tagline) in each of the top 15 non-English languages in their domiciled state concerning language assistance for discrimination questions and complaints.

The final rule also affects health insurance companies but in almost all cases not employers who sponsor health insurance at work.

Both the notice and taglines must also be included on the provider’s website, and included in any publications it issues, if any.

The Department of Health and Human Services has provided sample documents for both the notice and the taglines, which can be accessed by clicking on the links below:

SAMPLE NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION

TAGLINES FOR LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE

Note: The Taglines link also provides translated Notices of Nondiscrimination.

The regulation provides covered entities with some leeway in formatting the notices and taglines and in locating them, but they must be accessible and easy to read.

READ THE FINAL RULE