News and Alerts

The Center, together with a broad cross section of the disability, aging, and civil rights organizations, urged the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to take specific steps to ensure individuals at high risk of complications from COVID-19 have equitable access to the vaccines.

North Carolina is the latest state to follow suit and improve medical rationing protections for people with disabilities as COVID-19 outbreaks continue to surge throughout the nation. Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) and The Arc of North Carolina filed a complaint alleging the state's scarce medical resource plan illegally deprioritized people with disabilities in the allocation of lifesaving care. CPR was proud to partner with these organizations and our national coalition of disability advocates such as The Arc of the United States, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Autistic Self Advocacy Network and Samuel Bagenstos. In response to the complaint, North Carolina revised its “Protocol for Allocating Scarce Inpatient Critical Care Resources in a Pandemic” to comply with federal disability rights laws and ensure that people with disabilities will not encounter discrimination. Together, we continue to protect and guarantee equitable access to life-saving care to individuals with disabilities.

Today, amidst an unparalleled rampant spread of COVID-19 infection throughout the country and the looming specter of care rationing as hospitals become overwhelmed, civil rights groups, working closely with two Texas regional health groups and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the approval of revised crisis standard of care guidelines

The case of Wilkes v. Lamont was filed in response to COVID-19 deaths and unsafe conditions in two of Connecticut’s state psychiatric hospitals, Connecticut Valley Hospital and Whiting Forensic Hospital.  In the spring COVID-19 surge, five patients died and scores of patients and staff were infected. The Plaintiffs, five hospital patients, asked the U.S. District Court to require state officials, including the Governor, to improve infection control at the hospitals, limit admissions, and accelerate discharges.

CPR along with the Disability Law Center announce an updated guide to crisis standards of care for individuals with disabilities, their families, and health care agents titled:  Health Care Rationing and Accommodations: What Massachusetts Patients with Disabilities Need to Know During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

On December 21, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes both general government funding and coronavirus relief provisions. While the coronavirus relief provisions include some urgently needed aid, Congress once again failed to meet the needs of people with disabilities. The government funding portion of the bill, however, does extend funding for the Money Follows the Person (MFP) program for three years, along with spousal impoverishment protections.

The Center, together with a broad cross section of the disability, aging, and civil rights organizations, urged the Commonwealth to prioritize individuals with disabilities, older adults, and others at higher risk of death from the virus, in its vaccine allocation strategy, and to work with these constituencies in the ongoing development and implementation of those plans. 

Following several months of coordinated advocacy by CPR and an impressive, diverse group of stakeholders, Massachusetts released a third, revised version of its Crisis Standards of Care (CSC).

CPR received the Mary Lou Maloney award from the Massachusetts’ Disability Policy Consortium at its 8th annual event on November 13, 2020. The award, which honors a person or organization that serves people with disabilities through systemic policy and research, recognized CPR’s innovative and intersectional advocacy to redress discriminatory practices during the pandemic. 

First Circuit agrees Plaintiffs' are eligible for an award of attorney's fees and costs in longstanding Massachusetts Medicaid EPSDT case on behalf of thousands of children with SED .