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Office for Civil Rights

YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE COMMUNITY SERVICE ASSURANCE PROVISION OF THE HILL-BURTON

ACT

What Is Hill-Burton?

The Hill-Burton Act authorizes assistance to public and other nonprofit medical

facilities such as acute care general hospitals, special hospitals, nursing

homes, public health centers, and rehabilitation facilities.

The Community Service Assurance under Title VI of the Public Health Service Act

requires recipients of Hill-Burton funds to make services provided by the

facility available to persons residing in the facility's service area without

discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, creed, or any other

ground unrelated to the individual's need for the service or the availability of

the needed service in the facility. These requirements also apply to persons

employed in the service area of the facility if it was funded under Title XVI of

the Public Health Service Act. Please note that the community service obligation

is different from the uncompensated care provision. The community service

obligation does not require the facility to make non-emergency services

available to persons unable to pay for them. It does, however, require the

facility to make emergency services available without regard to the person's

ability to pay.

There are several basic requirements that every Hill-Burton hospital or other

facility must comply with to fulfill the community service obligation:

A person residing in the Hill-Burton facility's service area has the right to

medical treatment at the facility without regard to race, color, national origin

or creed.

Hill-Burton facilities must participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs

unless they are ineligible to participate.

Hill-Burton facilities must make arrangements for reimbursement for services

with principal State and local third-party payors that provide reimbursement

that is not less than the actual cost of the services.

A Hill-Burton facility must post notices informing the public of its community

service obligations in English and Spanish. If 10 percent or more of the

households in the service area usually speak a language other than English or

Spanish, the facility must translate the notice into that language and post it

as well.

A Hill-Burton facility may not deny emergency services to any person residing in

the facility's service area on the grounds that the person is unable to pay for

those services.

A Hill-Burton facility may not adopt patient admissions policies that have the

effect of excluding persons on grounds of race, color, national origin, creed or

any other ground unrelated to the patient's need for the service or the

availability of the needed service.

The entire U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Hill-Burton regulation

can be found at 42 CFR Part 124.

For information on how to file a complaint of discrimination, or to obtain

information of a civil rights nature, please contact us. Office for Civil Rights

(OCR) employees will make every effort to provide prompt service.

Hotlines: 1-(Voice) 1- (TDD)

E-Mail: ocrmail@... Website: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr

Mark E. Armstrong

www.top5plus5.com

NW Chapter Rep

Pancreatitis Association, International