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Volume 2, Number 1
CIVIL RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT SUFFERS AT HHS
by Trina Jones, Student Intern
On August 6 and 7, 1986, the I-louse Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations conducted oversight hearings on enforcement activities at the Office for Civil Rights, Department of Health and Human Services. During the two days of hearings, witnesses asserted that OCR "has failed over the past five years to minimally protect the rights of the populations entrusted to its care" (Testimony of David F. Chavkin, Directing Attorney, Maryland Disability Law Center). Lax enforcement has resulted in the Federal Government failing to address many of the civil rights problems in health and human services. For example, "Medicaid utilization by black recipients over 65 is still less than half that of white recipients. Many health care providers have no capacity to communicate with hearing-impaired patients and many hospitals still do not even have such basic equipment as a telecommunications device for the deaf. Other providers cannot communicate with or provide effective services to those who cannot speak English" (Chavkin Testimony).
Background
OCR has responsibility for ensuring nondiscrimination in HHS' federally assisted programs pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (race), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (disability), and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975. OCR is also responsible for compliance with the Hill-Burton Act which requires health care providers receiving federal funds to make their services "available and accessible" to their communities.
To ensure that the 230,000 federally-funded health and social service institutions comply with these statutes, OCR investigates complaints charging discrimination on the part of fund recipients and initiates compliance reviews of those institutions suspected of discrimination. The Department has three enforcement avenues: (1) initiating voluntary settlements (2) conducting hearings before administrative law judges and (3) referring cases to the Department of Justice.
The Hearings
A review of OCR documents by Subcommittee staff indicated that the Department
has been placing increasing reliance on voluntary settlements in serious cases of discrimination. In the time period under investigation, 1981-1986, of the thousands of cases OCR has handled, only 2 have gone to administrative hearings, and only four have been referred to the DOJ. In testimony before the Subcommittee, Martin Gerry, former Deputy Director of OCR, stated that negotiated settlements are inadequate because (1) they fail to remedy the effects of past discrimination, (2) they do not eliminate present discrimination (3) they do not prevent recurrences of discrimination and (4) they are often not monitored properly. Representative Ted Weiss (D-NY), Chair of the Subcommittee, in his opening statement reasoned that "remedies sought through negotiated settlements are often inadequate, and there is frequently excessive delay in handling cases of an emergency nature.,, OCR documents showed that the average age for investigated complaints has risen sharply. In 1985, the average age of investigated complain ts was 244 days. In 1986, the number climbed to 330.
  
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