In compliance with a new rule under the Affordable Care Act, patients registering at Bartlett Regional Hospital are now asked their gender identity. The rule also requires patients be notified that they are protected against sex discrimination.
Inpatients and outpatients registering at Bartlett Regional Hospital are asked the sex listed on their birth certificate and if they identify as female, male, FTM (female to male transgender), MTF (male to female transgender) or genderqueer (neither male nor female). Registrants can also answer “other” or decline to answer.
Section 1557 of the ACA provides that an individual shall not face discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in any health program or activity that receives Federal financial assistance.
The Department of Health and Human Services extended this prohibition to discrimination based on:
• An individual’s sex
• Pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions
• Gender identity
• Sex stereotyping, including the stereotype that an individual must identify as either male or female.
“We are very pleased that Bartlett Regional Hospital is promptly complying with this important final rule of the Affordable Care Act,” said Director of Quality Denise Plano. “We believe providing personal and patient centered services are integral to the overall health and wellbeing of our community”.
Section 1557 also prohibits most insurers from discriminating on the basis of gender identity when providing health coverage and requires that providers treat individuals in a manner consistent with their gender identity, including in access to health care facilities.
