Civil rights in a changing health care system

Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discriminatory conduct by recipients of federal financial assistance. The law has been used in the past to challenge discrimination in health care. The evolution of the healthcare system from fee-for-service to managed care holds much promise for minority persons, who historically have faced serious, extensively documented barriers to health care access. However, managed care providers, like their fee-for-service counterparts, may perpetuate past discriminatory practices in new ways. Understanding new forms of discrimination is important at this stage of the development of managed care, when program design and policy action can most effectively prevent the occurrence of such practices.