Healthcare Access

Alice Wong and Advocacy Groups Demand Systemic Changes in UCSF Healthcare

March 15, 2024
DREDF, CommunicationFIRST, and the Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco sent a letter to UCSF leaders regarding Alice Wong's recent experience at the Moffitt/Long Hospital for an urgent medical need. During her stay, Alice was denied effective communication and was subjected to the constant risk of infection from unmasked or improperly masked staff.

DREDF Acknowledges HHS OCR for Proposing Updated 504 Regulations that Include Disability Community Priorities in Health and Healthcare

September 8, 2023
The new provisions show HHS’s commitment to reconciling Section 504, the ADA, and key cases that together enable people with various disabilities to achieve consistent and timely access to needed healthcare, so that they can pursue their own life goals and interests. DREDF shares this commitment.

Laguna Honda Residents Have Rights

July 14, 2022
In April, Laguna Honda Hospital (LHH) was decertified by the federal government because of a finding that LHH violated quality of care standards. This means that LHH will stop receiving Medi-Cal and Medicare payments after September 13, 2022. LHH also had to create a closure plan to show the federal government how it would transfer and relocate all of its patients and residents. Our colleagues at Disability Rights California have created a fact sheet for LHH residents to explain their rights during the closure process.

DREDF and the Community Living Policy Center submit comments on CMS Proposed Rules on Integration for People Dually Enrolled in Medicare & Medicaid

March 7, 2022
DREDF, in collaboration with the Community Living Policy Center at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on proposed changes to regulation of Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) as part of a larger rulemaking on Medicare Part C & D. We support the direction of CMS’s proposals and appreciate the efforts to tighten and clarify requirements and the focus on enrollee experience and needs. Our comments primarily explore areas where we believe that CMS could include further specificity in the regulations such as advisory committees, network adequacy, durable medical equipment, and home health care. These regulations are important given the rapid growth of D-SNPs across the country. [...]