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YOUR RIGHT TO CARE

WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION

Federal and Michigan laws prohibit discrimination against residents or people seeking care on the basis of race, national origin, age, religion, sex, color or handicap.

This Fact Sheet summarizes some of your civil rights and explains how to file a complaint if you have experienced discrimination.

People seeking nursing home care often find it difficult to gain admission to a facility if they need a lot of care, require specialized services, or have certain types of medical conditions. This type of discrimination by a federally funded health care facility is illegal.

Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits Medicare and Medicaid approved nursing homes from discriminating against you if you are handicapped. Under this law, you are considered handicapped if you have a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits your ability to care for yourself, walk, see, hear, speak, breath, learn or perform other major life activities.

Some examples of handicapped conditions are:

MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aurous) is an antibiotic-resistant staph infection which is appearing more and more frequently throughout the country.

It is important for you to know that nursing homes can refuse to admit people who need more care than they are licensed or certified to provide. For example, if you need hospital or acute care a nursing home cannot admit or keep you.

The Federal Age Discrimination Act of 1975 prohibits Medicare and Medicaid approved nursing homes from discriminating against you on the basis of your age. While most nursing homes do not discriminate against people because they are too old, some facilities prefer not to admit younger applicants. This type of discrimination is also illegal.

Title VI of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits Medicare or Medicaid approved nursing homes from discriminating against you base on your race, color or national origin.

If you believe you have been discriminated against because of your race, color, national origin, age, sex, handicap or religion by a Medicare or Medicaid approved nursing home, you may file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights. The Office for Civil Rights is a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). DHHS is responsible for making sure that all organizations receiving federal funds from its organization comply with civil rights laws.

• Your name, address and telephone number.
• Your signature on the complaint letter.
• The name and address of the facility you believe discriminated against you.
• How, why and when you believe you were discriminated against.
• Any other relevant information.

If you prefer, your local ombudsman office or the Office for Civil Rights can send you a Discrimination Complaint Form to complete.

The Office for Civil Rights serving Michigan is located in Chicago. Please send your complaint to:

If you have any questions about the complaint process or the status of your complaint, you can call the Office for Civil Rights at (312) 886-2359. For TDD/TTY, please call (312) 353-5693. You local ombudsman office can also help you.

If the Office of Civil Rights investigation confirms you were discriminated against, it will negotiate with the nursing home to correct the discriminatory action. For example, if you were improperly denied admission, the facility may be asked to admit your and publicize to the community that it will not discriminate against future applicants.

If the nursing home does not agree to take corrective action, the Office for Civil Rights may seek to suspend or terminated federal funding to the nursing home. The Office for Civil Rights will send you a report on its findings and actions taken to correct the problem.

Current laws do not prohibit nursing homes from discriminating against people seeking admission based on their source of payment. Nursing homes prefer private paying patients because they can charge them more money the Medicaid, Medicare, or the Veterans Administration.

Michigan and federal law protects people who are in nursing homes from being discriminated against based on their source of payment. If your nursing home is giving you less care or services because your care is being paid for by Medicare or Medicaid, it is violating your rights. In Michigan, this type of discrimination is investigated by the Michigan Department Bureau of Health Services (MDBHS).

If you have been subject to financial discrimination, please contact your local CBC office for information and assistance. This form of discrimination will only end after people speak up. Ask for copies of the Fact Sheets on Financial Discrimination and How to File a Complaint with the Michigan Department Bureau of Health Services.

Rev: 98, 99, 03/00, 10/00, 04/04