August 23, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Below is a listing of individuals who are eligible to serve on the Performance Review Board in accordance with the Economics and Statistics Administration's Senior Executive Service and Senior Professional Performance Management Systems: Herman Habermann, Shirin A. Ahmed, Teresa Angueira, William G. Bostic, Jr., Stephanie Brown, Howard Hogan, Nancy M. Gordon, Arnold A. Jackson, Theodore A. Johnson, Ruth Ann Killion, Robert LaMacchia, Michael J. Longini, Thomas L. Mesenbourg, Jr; C. Harvey Monk, Andrew H. Moxam, Walter C. Odom, Jr., Marvin D. Raines, Brian Monaghan, Richard W. Swartz, Alan R. Tupek, Preston J. Waite, Mark E. Wallace, Daniel H. Weinberg, Ewen M. Wilson; Tommy Wright, Robert Fay III, William Bell, Elizabeth Martin, Paul Friday, David Findley, J. Steven Landefeld, Dennis J. Fixler, Ralph H. Kozlow, Alan C. Lorish, Rosemary D. Marcuss, Brent R. Moulton; Sumiye O. Okubo, John W. Ruser, James K. White, Katherine Wallman, and Dr. Jennifer Madans.

The purpose of this notice is to alert the public to two items. First, pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), the National Park Service (NPS) announces the availability of the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the disposition of the former Bureau of Mines Twin Cities Research Center (Center), located within the boundary of Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA), a unit of the NPS, in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The draft EIS is now available for public review and comment, and everyone is invited to comment on the document. Secondly, the notice is intended to alert any prospective Government or university entities that the NPS is soliciting proposals for use of the Center. In accordance with the legislation addressing the Center (Pub. L. 104-134), only Government and university entities qualify as possible recipients of the property. Additionally, Public Law 106-113 allows the Secretary to accept financial remuneration for the Center and distribute the funds to MNRRA and the national wildlife refuge system for the benefit of their respective activities in Minnesota. The Center is Federal land located within the boundary of the MNRRA. Accordingly, through today's notice, the NPS invites written proposals from Government and university entities who may be interested in acquiring the former Bureau of Mines property. Verbal proposals will not be considered.

This proposed rule would revise the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system to implement applicable statutory requirements and changes arising from our continuing experience with this system, and to implement certain related provisions of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003, and the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005. The proposed rule describes proposed changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the payment rates for Medicare hospital outpatient services paid under the prospective payment system. These changes would be applicable to services furnished on or after January 1, 2007. In addition, this proposed rule would revise the current list of procedures that are approved when furnished in a Medicare-approved ambulatory surgical center (ASC), which would be applicable to services furnished on or after January 1, 2007. Further, this proposed rule would revise the ASC facility payment system to implement provisions of the MMA and other applicable statutory requirements, and update the ASC payment rates. Changes to the ASC facility payment system and the payment rates would be applicable to services furnished on or after January 1, 2008. This proposed rule would revise the emergency medical screening requirements for critical access hospitals (CAHs). In addition, this proposed rule would support implementation of a restructuring of the contracting entities responsibilities and functions that support the adjudication of Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) claims. This restructuring is directed by section 1874A of the Act, as added by section 911 of the MMA. The prior separate Medicare intermediary and Medicare carrier contracting authorities under Title XVIII of the Act have been replaced with the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) authority. This proposed rule would also continue to implement the requirements of the DRA that require that we expand the ``starter set'' of 10 quality measures that we used in FY 2005 and FY 2006 for the hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Reporting Hospital Quality Data for the Annual Payment Update (RHQDAPU) program. We began to adopt expanded measures effective for payments beginning in FY 2007. We are proposing to add additional quality measures to the expanded set of measures for FY 2008 payment purposes. These measures include the HCAHPS[supreg] survey, as well as Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP, formerly Surgical Infection Prevention (SIP)), and Mortality quality measures.