Proposed rule would end requirement for faith-based health-care providers to refer for services they won't perform

"The Department of Health and Human Services has unveiled a proposed rule that would remove a mandate that faith-based providers refer patients to other providers for services they won't offer for religious reasons," John Commins reports for HealthLeaders, a health-care industry publication.

If adopted, the rule could hurt rural patients. At Catholic hospitals, which make up an increasing share of rural health systems, providers often can't offer services related to abortion, birth control, some end-of-life care, and gender affirmation. Rural patients who are refused care because of religious beliefs may have no other local options, as illustrated by a recent story about a Minnesota woman who had to drive for hours and contact several pharmacies to get a morning-after pill. 

The proposal "removes what the Trump administration claims is a discriminatory Obama-era policy that requires religious providers of social services, but not other providers of social services, to make referrals," Commins reports. "HHS is one of nine federal departments, including the Department of Education and the Department of Justice, that were named in a Trump executive order to remove what it said were unfair barriers in federal policies that singled out faith-based groups."