HHS Office for Civil Rights and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington Secure Agreement with MultiCare Health Systems to Advance Health Civil Rights for Persons with Disabilities

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington (USAO), entered into an agreement with MultiCare Health Systems of Washington (MultiCare) to resolve complaints which alleged that MultiCare’s failure to provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services, such as sign language interpreters or tactile sign language interpreters, for patients who are deaf or hard of hearing, blind or low vision, or both, violated federal civil rights laws – Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504), Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (Section 1557), and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”) – which protect against discrimination. 

“Relying on family members to interpret for patients instead of providing qualified interpreters violates federal civil rights laws and burdens patients,” said OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer. “Today’s settlement highlights the importance of having a system to provide auxiliary aids and services to advance effective communication for deaf and deaf-blind patients along the continuum of a patient’s care. OCR will continue to enforce critical civil rights laws on behalf of our communities to ensure fairness and equity in access to health and human services.”

The agreement resolves a joint investigation into allegations that MultiCare, an HHS financial assistance recipient, failed, multiple times, to provide effective communication to a patient who is deaf and a patient who is both deaf and blind (deaf-blind). The investigation revealed that MultiCare relied on the spouse of a patient who is deaf-blind to interpret for the patient before and after surgery. Additionally, MultiCare relied on the son of a patient who is deaf to interpret before and after the patient’s surgery. The family members were not prepared or qualified to interpret for the patients during this stressful time. Federal civil rights law prohibits MultiCare from relying on family and companions to provide interpretation unless there is an emergency or the individual with the disability specifically requests it.  Under the agreement, MultiCare agreed to take the following steps to correct its conduct and comply with Section 504, Section 1557, and the ADA:

• Designate a point person responsible for providing and ensuring appropriate auxiliary aids and services and ensuring the health system has resources, including three interpreter firms, to provide effective communication to patients with communication disabilities. 
• Develop policies and practices for assessing and meeting the communication needs of patients who are deaf or deaf-blind.
• Train staff on the new policies for assessing and meeting the communication needs of patients who are deaf or deaf-blind.
• Compensate each impacted patient in the amount of $100,000 and compensate the impacted family members in the amount of $40,000.
• Establish a third-party claims administrator to distribute $2 million in settlement funds to redress harm suffered by patients denied appropriate interpreter services. 
• Provide monitoring reports every four months to OCR and the USAO about requests for assistive devices or interpreters and how those needs were met.

The Voluntary Resolution Agreement may be found at: https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-providers/compliance-enforcement/examples/disability/multicare-health-system/index.html. 

This action is the latest in a series of efforts OCR has made to advance and protect the civil rights of people with disabilities. This includes the announcement of the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 final rule and the Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act final rule.

For more information on nondiscrimination on the basis of disability, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, visit: https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/disability/index.html.

If you believe that you or someone else has been discriminated against because of race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, or religion in programs or activities that HHS directly operates or to which HHS provides federal financial assistance, you may file a complaint with the HHS Office for Civil Rights at:  https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/filing-a-complaint/index.html.

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