Section 1557 notice of nondiscrimination for ride companies: the model text and the language help notice

Who has to post these notices

A ride company paid with Medicaid or other HHS money should treat itself as covered, whether the money arrives straight from the state or through a broker. Part 92 applies to every health program or activity, any part of which receives federal financial assistance from HHS “directly or indirectly” (45 CFR 92.2), and a recipient is any organization to whom that assistance is extended directly or indirectly (92.4). The rule’s definition of a health program includes an undertaking to provide assistance to people in obtaining health-related services. HHS’s own complaint page lists “Medicaid and Medicare providers” among the covered entities, and HHS’s Title VI rules list Medicaid medical assistance grants among federal financial assistance. Our guide to language access in NEMT explains how far the rule reaches and what interpreters it requires. This page holds the two notices.

The notice of nondiscrimination (92.10) was due within 120 days of July 5, 2024, so by November 2, 2024. The language help notice (92.11) was due within one year, by July 5, 2025 (92.1(b)). The federal code’s text of both sections has not changed since July 5, 2024.

The notice of nondiscrimination, ready to fill in

Eight pieces of content are required, listed in 45 CFR 92.10(a)(1). The text below follows their order. Three lines, marked in brackets, apply only in some cases: the Coordinator line and the grievance line at 15 or more employees, and the website line if you have a website. HHS said when it issued the rule that it would provide a sample notice, so compare this text with HHS’s sample before you print it.

[Company name] notice of nondiscrimination

[Company name] follows federal civil rights laws. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency and primary language), sex, age, or disability.

We provide reasonable modifications, and appropriate aids and services, free of charge and in a timely manner, when they are needed so that people with disabilities can ride with us on equal terms. These include qualified interpreters for people with disabilities and information in other formats, such as braille or large print.

We provide language assistance free of charge and in a timely manner when it is a reasonable step toward meaningful access for a person with limited English. This includes oral interpretation and translated documents, on paper or on screen.

To ask for any of this, call [phone] (TTY: [number or 711]), email [address], or tell your driver or dispatcher.

[Our Section 1557 Coordinator is [name or title], [phone], [email], [mailing address].]

[If you believe we have discriminated, you can file a grievance with us. Write, call, or email the Coordinator, who will help you. [How to file.]]

Anyone may also file a civil rights complaint with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Online: https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/cp/complaint_frontpage.jsf. For help: 1-800-368-1019 (TDD: 800-537-7697). By mail: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201.

[This notice is also on our website at [web address].]

Three choices in that text matter. Keep the parenthetical after “national origin” exactly as the rule words it, because it is part of what the notice must state. Write the phone line and the TTY line next to each other, since the notice has to say how to get the modifications, aids, and language help. And check the HHS contact lines against OCR’s complaint page in the week you print, because the OCR contact details come from its portal and can change. The portal says OCR can act on a complaint filed within 180 days of the alleged violation.

The notice that free language help is available

The second notice must say, at minimum, that you provide language assistance and appropriate auxiliary aids and services free of charge, to riders and to the public (92.11(a)). It is shorter than the first:

[Company name] notice of language help and aids

[Company name] provides language assistance services and appropriate aids and services for people with disabilities, free of charge. If English is not your first language, you can have an interpreter and translated documents at no cost. If you have a disability, you can get aids such as a sign language interpreter, large print, or braille at no cost. To ask, call [phone] (TTY: [number or 711]) or tell your driver or dispatcher.

Print that paragraph in English and in your state’s 15 most common languages among people with limited English proficiency (or the combined list, if you operate in more than one state). Offer it in alternate formats too, for riders who need aids (92.11(b)). Each translation should come from a qualified translator, not software alone. The rule requires a qualified translator whenever translation is required, and a human review of any machine translation of text this important (92.201(c)).

The rule requires this notice to accompany the notice of nondiscrimination (92.11(c)(5)(i)), and HHS’s preamble says a covered entity may choose to integrate it into that notice. One sheet with the English nondiscrimination notice on top and the language help paragraph in English and each translation below it is one way to do it.

How to find your state’s 15 languages

The rule counts people with limited English proficiency in the relevant state or states, which HHS measured with Census data on people who speak English less than “very well.” When HHS published the rule it said it had posted translated model notices for each state’s top 15 languages at hhs.gov/1557, so start there and check that the page still carries them.

To build a list yourself, the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey table B16001 gives, for each language, the people who speak English less than “very well.” The table lumps smaller languages into groups, such as “Other languages of Asia” and “Other Indo-European languages,” so a group cannot go on your list as one language. When a group ranks in your top 15, use HHS’s state list or ask a translation service which languages sit inside it. The languages your own riders speak are a separate count, and the language access plan template shows how to make it.

A company that operates in more than one state combines the counts. HHS described this for a company operating in all 50 states, and said the formula still reaches over 93 percent of people with limited English even at that scale (89 FR 37568). A rider whose language is not on your list still gets language help under 92.201; the 15 languages set the floor for the notice, not the limit of the help.

Where each notice has to appear

Both notices go in the same four places, and the language help notice goes into a list of documents as well. The rule treats the two notices alike on delivery:

• Each rider, every year. Both notices go to the people the program serves once a year. The rule names no method, so keep proof of the one you use, such as a dated mailing or message.
• On request. A copy goes out whenever a rider, a family member, or anyone from the public asks for one.
• On the website. The rule wants a conspicuous location if you have a site. A link in the footer of every page and another on the booking page fits that.
• In physical locations. Clear and prominent places, in no smaller than 20-point sans serif type. For a ride company that means a card in each van where seated riders can read it, plus the office counter and any sign-up desk.

The documents the language help notice must also appear in are listed in 92.11(c)(5). The ones a ride company sends:

• The notice of nondiscrimination and the notice of privacy practices. The privacy notice template points back here.
• Application and intake forms. Rider sign-up forms and the trip request form.
• Notices of denial or termination of service, and any notice of appeal or grievance rights.
• Letters that ask a rider to respond, such as a request to confirm rides or call back. The no-show letter carries a line for it.
• Billing and collections materials. Invoices, statements, and past-due letters.
• Complaint forms and rider handbooks. The complaint resolution policy covers the form.

Two options in 92.11(d) replace the translated notice for a given rider. The first is to record the rider’s primary language and any aids the rider needs, and then either send that rider everything in that language or put the language help notice in that language into each document above. The second is to offer the rider a yearly choice to opt out of receiving the notice. For that one, tell the rider that opting out does not waive language help, tie nothing to the choice, record it every year, and never treat silence as an opt-out. Recording language on the rider profile form is the practical start for the first option.

Which parts courts have blocked

Courts have blocked how the rule defines sex discrimination, and the two notices stand. Three actions matter:

• July 3, 2024. A federal court in Mississippi enjoined HHS from enforcing the rule’s gender identity provisions, and stayed their effective date.
• August 30, 2024. In Texas v. Becerra, a federal court in Texas halted, across the country, the rule’s treatment of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, pregnancy, and sex stereotypes as forms of sex discrimination. HHS describes the order in an April 24, 2026 notice.
• October 22, 2025. In Tennessee v. Kennedy, the Mississippi court entered final judgment vacating listed provisions to the extent they treat sex discrimination as including gender identity. The list includes 92.10(a)(1)(i), the line of the notice that names the grounds, and 92.8(b)(1), the written nondiscrimination policy.

HHS’s notice of June 2, 2026 says OCR “cannot and will not” enforce those provisions to that extent, and that “the other provisions of the Section 1557 Rule remain in force.” For the notices, that means the race, color, national origin, age, and disability commitments, the free language and disability help, the complaint details, and the whole of 92.11 carry on. The notice should still list sex. No proposed or final rule amending part 92 has been published after that June notice as of October 6, 2026, so recheck the federal code when you reprint.

The matching written policy

Section 92.8(a) and (b) also asks for a written nondiscrimination policy with an effective date. It is the inside version of the notice and takes four sentences:

[Company name] nondiscrimination policy, effective [date]

[Company name] does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency and primary language), sex, age, or disability. We provide language assistance and appropriate auxiliary aids and services, free of charge, when they are needed. We provide reasonable modifications for people with disabilities. [Our Section 1557 Coordinator is [name], [phone], [email].]

The rule asks you to review the policy whenever it needs to change, for instance when the Coordinator or the phone line changes (92.8(h)). The ADA side of the same duties sits in the NEMT ADA policy, and the grievance side in the complaint resolution policy.

Keeping the van cards current

When a phone number or contact changes, the card in each van changes too. In HealthRide, team chat can send an announcement to every driver in one step, show who has read it, and require each driver to confirm, so a new card reaches every vehicle. It does not replace the dated training record that 92.9(c) requires for staff, which belongs on its own sign-in sheet. See team chat.