Advocates' Guide to Accessibility in Medicaid Managed Care Grievances and Appeals

This document provides guidance on how States can, in the process of implementing the new federal regulations outlining new procedural requirements for managed care plans' grievance and appeal systems, ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to the grievance and appeal and State fair hearing systems, as mandated by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act ("Rehab Act"), the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act ("ACA"). It provides advocates with an outline of potentially problematic areas in the appeals process and provides suggested language for the content of States implementing regulations -- to be utilized during commenting periods. Each section begins with a broad overview of the federal accessibility regulations that are binding on managed care plans and/or Agencies. It then proceeds chronologically through the various steps in the grievance and appeal and State fair hearing processes, suggesting regulatory language to improve physical and programmatic accessibility at each step.