Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities

http://www.hcqualitycommission.gov/cborr/chap5.html

Chapter Five Respect and Nondiscrimination

Source of payment. The health care system currently is undergoing an historic transformation in which low-income Medicaid beneficiaries are being enrolled into private health plans. While this is a positive development in terms of access for traditionally vulnerable populations to high-quality care, it is almost certain to create additional tensions that could be manifest in discrimination. Providers who agree to accept Medicaid beneficiaries must provide equal access, care, and waiting times to those patients. It will be vitally important for State and Federal agencies to closely monitor the provision of care to Medicaid beneficiaries as they move into new health plans


Health plans will need to examine the standards and incentives that exist within their systems that may inadvertently discourage providers from attending to the interpersonal aspects of health care quality that can be manifest as disrespect. Consumers enrolled in health plans with defined networks of providers should have access to their plans' participating providers, without regard to the source of their coverage (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, employer-sponsored plan