Civil Rights and the American Health Care System: Conceptualizing a Law and Policy Framework in the New Health Environment for Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Award Year: 2000	Investigator: Sara Rosenbaum, Joel Teitelbaum	Budget: $242,281	Categories: Health Care Law, History of Health Policy and Public Health
Abstract: Despite the high level of attention on health care discrimination during the debate over the Civil Rights Act of 1964, health care as a civil right has received relatively little attention since enactment. By examining the potential for using civil rights law to address disparities in access to care and health outcomes, the investigators will create a new framework for applying Title VI of the Act to today's health care system. The project addresses major policy questions in relation to Title VI enforcement efforts at a time when health care services have been transformed and dominated by integrated delivery systems. Professors Rosenbaum and Teitelbaum will evaluate the need to modernize the legal structure of Title VI to account for delivery system changes. Their work will provide policymakers with a clearer picture of health care discrimination, remedies for discriminatory practices, and legal principles on which the duty not to discriminate should rest.