Financial Responsibility
Provider Type
- Physicians
- Hospitals
- Participating Physician Groups (PPG)
- Ancillary
Under federal regulations promulgated for use under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), participating providers bear the financial responsibility when auxiliary aids or services for the hearing impaired (such as an interpreter) are necessary to ensure effective communication with a member, unless this creates an undue burden or fundamentally alters the nature of the goods, services or operation.
Undue Burden
An undue burden is a significant difficulty or expense. Several factors may be relevant when determining whether providing an auxiliary aid or service is an undue burden, including:
- Nature and cost.
- Overall financial resources of the site or sites involved; the number of employees at the site; the effect on expenses and resources; legitimate safety requirements necessary for safe operation, including crime prevention measures; or any other negative effect on the operation of the site.
- The geographic separateness, and the administrative or fiscal relationship of the site or sites in question, to any parent corporation or entity.
- The overall financial resources of any parent corporation or entity; the overall size of the parent corporation or entity with respect to the number of its employees; and the number, type and location of its facilities.
- The type of operation or operations of any parent corporation or entity, including the composition, structure and functions of the workforce of the parent corporation or entity.