White House Photo Of The Day Commemorates World AIDS Day

From the White House comes this picture of the president's abode being adorned in the red AIDS ribbon for World AIDS Day.

President Obama released a statement about the annual event, saying, "Creating an AIDS-free generation is a shared responsibility… Working together, we can realize our historic opportunity to bring that fight to an end."

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' also struck an optimistic tone: "When the first World AIDS Day was observed in 1988, we could not imagine the end of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. For those diagnosed with HIV infection, the future was bleak. This year, the picture is very different." 

She went on: "This year, the picture is very different. Scientific advances in understanding HIV, and an increasing number of treatment options, are turning the tide for millions of people living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and around the world. We are greatly encouraged by evidence that new HIV infections have declined by 50 percent or more in 25 low and middle income countries."

HHS: Federal Health Care Programs Barred from Discriminating Against Transgender People

Buzzfeed reports on "a sweeping decision" from the Department of Health and Human Services:

In response to a letter sent by a dozen LGBT health and advocacy organizations to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in June, Leon Rodriguez — the director of HHS's Office for Civil Rights — wrote on July 12 HHS considers discrimination based on "gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity" in federal health programs or activities receiving funding under Affordable Care Act-covered programs to be illegal.

In the letter, obtained by BuzzFeed, Rodriguez agreed with the groups' assessment that the prohibition on sex discrimination in Obama's health care law prohibited discrimination against transgender people and stated that his office would investigate any complaints of such discrimination.

Referring to a recent survey, National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling told BuzzFeed that 20 percent of transgender people report being turned away from a health-care provider for being transgender.

"That's illegal now," she said.

HHS Secretary Announces Four Public-Private Initatives to Help Americans Living with HIV/AIDS

(luna media group)

On Sunday night at the International AIDS Conference, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced four public-private initatives to help those living with HIV/AIDS, the Washington Blade reports:

Sebelius announced the projects — including a new $4.5 million multi-year project with the MAC AIDS Fund called the Care for Life Initiative — during remarks she delivered as the final speaker on the opening night of the 19th International AIDS Conference, which is being held in the United States for the first time since 1990. An estimated 25,000 are in attendance for the week-long conference in D.C...

...Besides the Care for Life Initiative, Sebelius also hit on the other three initiatives during her remarks. With the pharmaceutical retailer Walgreens, she announced a three-year partnership with the Centers for Disease Control to explore ways in which pharmacies can help patients stay on their medications. According to a news statement, Walgreens is supplying nearly $1 million in in-kind services for this initiative.

With Medscape, a leading provider of online continuing education for U.S. clinicians, Sebelius unveiled partnership training programs with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid to help clinicians better understand and address HIV patients’ needs. According to a news statement, three new training modules have already been created for physicians, nurses and other medical professionals.

Finally, Sebelius announced that HHS is partnering with the eight largest AIDS drug companies — Abbot Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and ViiV — to create a single application form for AIDS medications offered through their patient assistance programs.

Many more details at the Blade...

In other news, more than 1,000 marched in D.C. ahead of the conference, the AP reports:

Organizers said the aim of the "Keep the Promise" march was to remind world leaders and policymakers that AIDS remains a threat to global health. Marchers used red umbrellas to create a human red ribbon in advance of the march. Some carried balloons in the shape of globes as they marched, and others carried signs that read "Test & Treat Now" and "Yes We Can Control AIDS." The marchers stretched for more than a block, with bands and cheerleaders among the group.

AIDS is seen at a turning point, the AP adds:

The conference’s goal is to turn the tide on HIV. Experts say science has provided tools to finally stem the spread of this intractable virus. San Francisco AIDS specialist Dr. Diane Havlir said it would be “an extraordinary failure of global will and conscience” if financial cutbacks block this chance.

She said the world has a chance to “start to end AIDS.”

“There is no excuse, scientifically, to say we cannot do it,” Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, told reporters Sunday.

The White House's Charm Offensive

The White House is organizing a tour to reach out to LGBT Americans around the country. From the Obama administration's Office of Communications:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The White House Office of Public Engagement (OPE) will partner with key Departments and Agencies to host a series of conferences around the country specifically focused on LGBT Americans.  From February to June 2012, OPE will convene these White House LGBT Conferences to provide grassroots leaders, community organizers, advocates, students, and interested citizens an opportunity to hear directly from the Administration on our efforts to ensure health, well-being, security, justice, and equality for LGBT Americans.

So -- agencies responsible for housing, health, whathaveyou will partner with the OPE, rent a hall, roll into town, and talk to you. The first engagement of the administration's charm offensive will take place in Philly on February 16th, and shall feature Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Venue TBA, and ditto with subsequent engagements -- though the press release promises sessions devoted to "Housing & Homelessness, Safe Schools & Communities, and HIV/AIDS Prevention."

By the way -- the press release went out over email. I tried and failed to find the original announcement at whitehouse.gov. If you should come across it, please do post the link.

Medicare Steps Up Enforcement of Visitation and Representation Rights for Gay Partners in Hospitals

Medicare has stepped up enforcement of rules finalized last year regarding visitation and representation rights for same-sex partners in hospitals.

From the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced new guidance to support enforcement of rules that protect hospital patients’ right to choose their own visitors during a hospital stay, including a visitor who is a same-sex domestic partner. These rules, finalized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in November, apply to all hospitals that participate in Medicare and Medicaid.  The guidance also supports enforcement of the right of patients to designate the person of their choice, including a same-sex partner, to make medical decisions on their behalf should they become incapacitated.

The rules updated the Conditions of Participation (CoPs), which are the health and safety standards all Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals and critical access hospitals must meet, and apply to all patients of those hospitals even if they are not on Medicare or Medicaid.  Among other things, the CoPs require hospitals to explain to all patients their right to choose who may visit them during their inpatient stay, regardless of whether the visitor is a family member, a spouse, a domestic partner (including a same-sex domestic partner), or another type of visitor, as well as their right to withdraw such consent to visitation at any time. 

Existing CoPs also protect the rights of hospital patients to have representatives who can act on their behalf.  HHS has updated the guidance for these rules to emphasize that hospitals should give deference to patients’ wishes concerning their representatives, whether expressed in writing, orally, or through other evidence, unless prohibited by state law.  The guidance issued today is intended to make it easier for family members, including a same-sex domestic partner, to make informed care decisions for loved ones who have become incapacitated.

According to HHS, a letter was sent to State Survey Agencies, which conduct on-site inspections of hospitals on behalf of CMS, directing them to be aware of the guidance.

Said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius: "Couples take a vow to be with each other in sickness and in health and it is unacceptable that, in the past, some same-sex partners were denied the right to visit their loved ones in times of need. We are releasing guidance for enforcing new rules that give all patients, including those with same-sex partners, the right to choose who can visit them in the hospital as well as enhancing existing guidance regarding the right to choose who will help make medical decisions on their behalf.”

Medicare Finalizes Rules Requiring Equal Visitation Rights for All Hospital Patients Including Gay Partners

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued new rules for Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals stemming from a memo issued by President Obama this spring. Read the memo HERE.

According to a release from the Department of Health and Human Services:

The new rules follow from an April 15, 2010 Presidential Memorandum, in which President Obama tasked HHS with developing standards for Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals (including critical access hospitals) that would require them to respect the right of all patients to choose who may visit them when they are an inpatient of a hospital.  The President’s memorandum instructed HHS to develop rules that would prohibit hospitals from denying visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.  It also directed that the rules take into account the need for a hospital to restrict visitation in medically appropriate circumstances.

The rules require hospitals to have written policies and procedures detailing patients’ visitation rights, as well as the circumstances under which the hospitals may restrict patient access to visitors based on reasonable clinical needs.

A key provision of the rules specifies that all visitors chosen by the patient (or his or her representative) must be able to enjoy “full and equal” visitation privileges consistent with the wishes of the patient (or his or her representative). 

The rules update the Conditions of Participation (CoPs), which are the health and safety standards all Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals and critical access hospitals must meet, and are applicable to all patients of those hospitals regardless of payer source.

Among other things, the rules impose new requirements on hospitals to explain to all patients their right to choose who may visit them during their inpatient stay, regardless of whether the visitor is a family member, a spouse, a domestic partner (including a same-sex domestic partner), or other type of visitor, as well as their right to withdraw such consent to visitation at any time. 

Said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (pictured):

“Basic human rights—such as your ability to choose your own support system in a time of need—must not be checked at the door of America’s hospitals. Today’s rules help give ‘full and equal’ rights to all of us to choose whom we want by our bedside when we are sick, and override any objection by a hospital or staffer who may disagree with us for any non-clinical reason.”