Out With Cancer helped make visitation rights for all patients and their loved ones a right. We were one of several LGBT focused nonprofit organizations fighting to change hospital policies that excluded same sex partners from the same visitation rights as married heterosexual couples. On April 15, 2010, the President issued a Presidential memorandum to HHS calling for the initiation of rulemaking that would ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors, regardless of whether the visitors are legally related to the patients. The President’s directive clearly instructed HHS to propose that a participating hospital not deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. In advance of this proposed rule, Secretary Sebelius sent a letter late today to leaders of major hospital associations asking them to encourage their member hospitals to not wait for the formal rulemaking process to run its course before they review their current visitation policies.
The full letter follows.
June 22, 2010
Dear Colleagues:
On April 15, 2010, the President issued a Presidential memorandum to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) calling for the initiation of rulemaking that would ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors, regardless of whether the visitors are legally related to the patients. The President’s directive clearly instructed HHS to propose that a participating hospital not deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. It also directed that the rulemaking take into account the need for a participating hospital to restrict visitation in medically appropriate circumstances.
I have tasked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to satisfy the President’s directive through new requirements that will be included in the Medicare Hospital and Critical Access Hospital Conditions of Participation, 42 C.F.R. Parts 482 and 485 subpart F, respectively. CMS intends to publish a proposed rule shortly and a final rule by late fall of this year.
Your organizations play a crucial role in advancing quality care and patient safety in hospitals across the nation. I recognize that many of your members have been at the forefront of advancing patient-centered hospital visitation policies in their respective institutions or have worked with their state legislatures to develop state laws that promote such policies. I welcome your input into this rulemaking process once the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) is published.
Furthermore, in the interim, until such time as a final rule can be published, I would appreciate your voluntary support for the intent of the Presidential memorandum by encouraging your members to review policies they may currently have in place and adopt and enforce patient-centered visitation policies, as contemplated by the President, to the extent that they have not done so already. Your actions could spare many patients the pain of being separated from a loved one during an admission to a hospital – often one of the most anxious times in their lives.
I know the President and I can count on you now to ensure that this patient right – and all others – are recognized and honored.
A copy of the Presidential memorandum is enclosed. Thank you for your dedication to the cause of greater patient involvement in health care decisions.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary of Health and Human Services