{"id":14230,"date":"2024-12-04T18:36:56","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T19:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=14230"},"modified":"2024-12-04T20:05:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T20:05:01","slug":"christmas-miracle-bidens-cms-abandons-racial-equity-agenda-for-kidney-transplants-following-wills-public-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=14230","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Miracle? Biden\u2019s CMS Abandons \u201cRacial Equity\u201d Agenda for Kidney Transplants Following WILL\u2019s Public Comment"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/will-law.org\/christmas-miracle-bidens-cms-abandons-racial-equity-agenda-for-kidney-transplants-following-wills-public-comment\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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The News:<\/strong> The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) is applauding the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for its recent decision to back away from certain components of a proposed federal rule that would have required kidney transplant hospitals to submit \u201chealth equity plans\u201d to the agency under the threat of penalty.<\/p>\n

The rule\u2014known as the Increasing Organ Transplant Access Model or \u201cIOTA Model\u201d\u2014will pilot a scoring system that informs Medicare payments to (or from) participating kidney transplant hospitals in hopes of incentivizing hospitals to boost organ transplantation access.<\/p>\n

But because CMS\u2019s original proposal requiring health equity plans would have encouraged transplant hospitals to employ racially discriminatory considerations against potential kidney transplant candidates and recipients, WILL voiced its constitutional and legal concerns about the model in a public comment this past July.<\/p>\n

Following comments from WILL and others, CMS will no longer require participating kidney transplant hospitals to submit health equity plans. However, the agency has nevertheless finalized the rule to allow transplant hospitals the option to submit voluntary plans as briefly summarized in the screenshots below. Transplant hospitals that choose to submit voluntary health equity plans under the final rule should be aware that race-based policies, including racial balancing schemes, may subject them to liability.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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The Quotes:<\/strong> WILL Associate Counsel, Cara Tolliver, explained: \u201cCMS was right to roll back the rule\u2019s mandate for health equity plans. Americans are becoming increasingly concerned with health systems and government bureaucrats substituting individual need and circumstances for DEI in healthcare. We at WILL recognize that the use of racial identity politics in healthcare can quickly escalate to a life and death matter and stand ready to enforce the right to equal treatment in healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More:<\/strong><\/p>\n