October 29, 2021
WASHINGTON — Disability rights organizations filed friend-of-the-court briefs today urging the Supreme Court to uphold disability rights by rejecting CVS's attempt to dismantle non-discrimination protections under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. [...]
July 5, 2016
DREDF supports CMS proposals to include Promoting Health Equity and Continuity, and Social and Community Involvement as Clinical Practice Improvement Activity performance categories related to rewarding eligible practitioners who work to improve and maintain high quality care for people with disabilities. However, we question why the proposed rule fails to immediately adopt the subcategory of promoting health equity, which explicitly includes "maintaining adequate equipment and other accommodations."
April 4, 2016
All consumers need clear and accessible information. For consumers with disabilities, however, these needs become quite specific. That is, coverage information about such topics as the treatment of habilitation services and devices durable medical equipment, orthotics and prosthetics, prescription drugs, and mental health coverage is particularly important since these are items that enable people with chronic conditions and disabilities to remain functional in their lives and communities.
February 10, 2016
(Springfield, MA, February 10, 2016): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and individual plaintiffs Juan Figueroa, Derek Manners, and Martti Mallinen announced the filing of a major federal lawsuit today in U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, Western Division. The lawsuit charges the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through its sub-agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and its CMS sub-contractors, with systemically violating the civil rights of blind Medicare recipients.
February 10, 2016
The lawsuit filed today by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and individual plaintiffs charges the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through its sub-agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and its CMS sub-contractors, with systemically violating the civil rights of blind Medicare recipients. The complaint details how, 40 years after the federal Rehabilitation Act and a the growth of a new world of technology, blind people are still forced to -- among other long-outmoded practices -- rely on others to read inaccessible materials, and to disclose private personal and financial information to sighted third parties. [...]
January 15, 2016
DREDF commented on a large set of proposed regulations issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) shortly before the holidays. The draft regulations concerned Benefit and Payment Parameters for qualified health plans in the federal marketplace in 2017. In our comments, DREDF highlighted concerns with QHP's coverage of rehabilitative devices and durable medical equipment as rehabilitative benefits, and ongoing shortfalls in network adequacy standards with respect to physical and programmatic accessibility.
November 18, 2015
As an organization founded by people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities, we have long advocated for equally effective and barrier-free healthcare for people with disabilities of all ages. We strongly support the repeal of the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) methodology for updating the physician fee schedule (PFS) effected by Section 101 of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), and its replacement with a new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).
September 28, 2015
Webinar Recording and Materials 9/24/15
PROMISING PRACTICE: An Innovative Three-Way Complex Care Collaboration: Berkeley Center for Independent Living (CIL), LifeLong Medical Care, and Alameda Alliance Health Plan, Berkeley, California
July 27, 2015
DREDF has submitted comments focusing on those aspects of the rule that deal with accessibility for people with disabilities and provider network adequacy, as well as some additional topics of particular concern to the disability community.
June 30, 2015
DREDF submitted comments on the updated California State-Specific Reporting Requirements for Contract Year 2015, released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) June 22, 2015.