Hospital laboratory Medicare Conditions of Participation will be amended to protect the rights of patients in same-sex marriages. A proposed rule was released responding to the US Supreme Court decision that held unconstitutional the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The amendments are intended “to ensure that same-sex spouses in legally-valid marriages are recognized and afforded equal rights in Medicare and Medicaid participating facilities,” the notice for the proposed rule explains. The U.S. Supreme Court declared DOMA unconstitutional in a 2013 decision in United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. 12, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013). The Court said DOMA violated the Fifth Amendment by stating that the word marriage should be defined to mean only the legal union between “one man and one woman as husband and wife” and that spouse means a person of the opposite gender. The Court explained that the federal law couldn’t prohibit recognition of same sex marriages that are recognized by and legally entered into under state law. Thus, the proposed rule will amend Conditions of Participation to comply with the Court’s ruling. “These revisions would promote equality and ensure the recognition of the validity of same-sex marriages when administering the patient rights and services at…
