Use of Medicare Procedures To Enter Into Provider Agreements for Extended Care Services, 21747-21748 [2017-09449]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 89 / Wednesday, May 10, 2017 / Proposed Rules comments or information that may lead to the discovery of a significant environmental impact from this proposed rule. G. Protest Activities The Coast Guard respects the First Amendment rights of protesters. Protesters are asked to contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to coordinate protest activities so that your message can be received without jeopardizing the safety or security of people, places, or vessels. jstallworth on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS V. Public Participation and Request for Comments We view public participation as essential to effective rulemaking, and will consider all comments and material received during the comment period. Your comment can help shape the outcome of this rulemaking. If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this rulemaking, indicate the specific section of this document to which each comment applies, and provide a reason for each suggestion or recommendation. We encourage you to submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https:// www.regulations.gov. If your material cannot be submitted using https:// www.regulations.gov, contact the person in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for alternate instructions. We accept anonymous comments. All comments received will be posted without change to https:// www.regulations.gov and will include any personal information you have provided. For more about privacy and the docket, you may review a Privacy Act notice regarding the Federal Docket Management System in the March 24, 2005, issue of the Federal Register (70 FR 15086). Documents mentioned in this NPRM as being available in the docket, and all public comments, will be in our online docket at https://www.regulations.gov and can be viewed by following that Web site’s instructions. Additionally, if you go to the online docket and sign up for email alerts, you will be notified when comments are posted or a final rule is published. List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 165 Harbors, Marine safety, Navigation (water), Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Security measures, Waterways. For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Coast Guard proposes to amend 33 CFR part 165 as follows: VerDate Sep<11>2014 15:10 May 09, 2017 Jkt 241001 PART 165—REGULATED NAVIGATION AREAS AND LIMITED ACCESS AREAS DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 1. The authority citation for part 165 continues to read as follows: 21747 38 CFR Part 17 ■ Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1231; 50 U.S.C. 191; 33 CFR 1.05–1, 6.04–1, 6.04–6, and 160.5; Department of Homeland Security Delegation No. 0170.1. RIN 2900–AO15 Use of Medicare Procedures To Enter Into Provider Agreements for Extended Care Services Department of Veterans Affairs. Withdrawal of proposed rule. 2. Add § 165.T09–0275 to read as follows: AGENCY: § 165.T09–0275 Safety Zone; Hope Chest Buffalo Niagara Dragon Boat Festival, Buffalo River, Buffalo, NY SUMMARY: ■ ACTION: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal (a) Location. This zone will cover all Register on February 13, 2013, that navigable waters of the Buffalo River; proposed amending its regulations to Buffalo, NY starting at position allow VA to enter into provider 42°52′12.60″ N. and 078°52′17.64″ W. agreements to obtain extended care then Southeast to 42°52′3.17″ N. and services for Veterans from community 078°52′12.43″ W. then East to providers. Since publication of that 42°52′3.68″ N. and 078°52′10.35″ W. proposed rule, further review has led then Northwest to 42°52′13.41″ N. and VA to conclude VA cannot achieve the 078°52′16.57″ W. then returning to the proposal’s goals without a statutory point of origin. change. For this reason, VA withdraws the proposed rule. (b) Enforcement Period. This regulation will be enforced DATES: This proposed rule is withdrawn intermittently on June 17, 2017 from as of May 10, 2017. 7:45 a.m. until 5:15 p.m. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: (c) Regulations. (1) In accordance with Daniel Schoeps, Office of Geriatrics and the general regulations in § 165.23 of Extended Care (10P4G), Department of this part, entry into, transiting, or Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue anchoring within this safety zone is NW., Washington, DC 20420; (202) 461– prohibited unless authorized by the 6763 (this is not a toll-free number). Captain of the Port Buffalo or his SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: VA designated on-scene representative. published a notice of proposed (2) This safety zone is closed to all rulemaking in the Federal Register on vessel traffic, except as may be February 13, 2013, that proposed to permitted by the Captain of the Port allow VA to enter into provider Buffalo or his designated on-scene agreements to obtain extended care representative. services for Veterans from community providers under 38 U.S.C. 1720(c)(1) (3) The ‘‘on-scene representative’’ of (see 78 FR 10117). Since publication of the Captain of the Port Buffalo is any that proposed rule, further review has Coast Guard commissioned, warrant or led VA to conclude the goals of this petty officer who has been designated regulation cannot be achieved without a by the Captain of the Port Buffalo to act statutory change. For this reason, VA on his behalf. withdraws the proposed rule. VA has (4) Vessel operators desiring to enter proposed and continues to support or operate within the safety zone must legislation that would authorize VA to contact the Captain of the Port Buffalo use provider agreements to purchase or his on-scene representative to obtain care in the community. permission to do so. The Captain of the After publication of the proposed Port Buffalo or his on-scene rule, section 101 of the Veterans Access, representative may be contacted via VHF Channel 16. Vessel operators given Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113–146, 128 Stat.1754, permission to enter or operate in the hereafter referred to as ‘‘the Choice safety zone must comply with all Act’’) created the Veterans Choice directions given to them by the Captain Program, which provides legal authority of the Port Buffalo, or his on-scene for VA to enter into provider agreements representative. to obtain certain extended care services Dated: May 4, 2017. for Veterans. The Veterans Choice J.S. Dufresne, Program also has regulations, at 38 CFR Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Captain of the 17.1500, et seq., that are currently Port Buffalo. operational and have criteria similar to [FR Doc. 2017–09483 Filed 5–9–17; 8:45 am] those in the proposed rule AO15, including eligibility standards for nonBILLING CODE 9110–04–P PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 E:\FR\FM\10MYP1.SGM 10MYP1 21748 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 89 / Wednesday, May 10, 2017 / Proposed Rules VA providers and standards for payment rates. Although the Choice Act provider agreements are similar in kind, and might seem to provide the same authority, they do not. Proposed AO15 would have authorized the use of provider agreements to provide ‘‘extended care services,’’ defined as ‘‘geriatric evaluation; nursing home care; domiciliary services; adult dayhealth care; noninstitutional palliative care, noninstitutional hospice care, and home health care when they are noninstitutional alternatives to nursing home care; and respite care’’ (see 70 FR 10121 (Feb. 13, 2013)). Although the Choice Act provides clear legal authority for VA to enter into provider agreements, the authority is limited to care authorized under the Veterans Choice Program for eligible Veterans and furnished by Choice-eligible providers. Further, the Veterans Choice Program covers only hospital care and medical services in VA’s medical benefits package (see 38 CFR 17.38); this captures some extended care services (noninstitutional alternatives to nursing home care like adult day-health care and respite care) but not the full scope of services proposed AO15 would have covered. Finally, the Veterans Choice Program will expire when the Choice Fund, established under section 802 of the Choice Act, has been exhausted. VA will continue to use provider agreements authorized by the Choice Act until the Veterans Choice Program expires, but to accomplish the goals of the proposed rule, Congress would need to enact a provider agreement provision authorizing VA to use provider agreements to purchase care in the community. For these reasons, VA withdraws the proposed rule. jstallworth on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS Signing Authority The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or designee, approved this document and authorized the undersigned to sign and submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for publication electronically as an official document of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Gina S. Farrisee, Deputy Chief of Staff, Department of Veterans Affairs, approved this document on May 4, 2017, for publication. List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 17 Administrative practice and procedure, Alcohol abuse, Alcoholism, Claims, Day care, Dental health, Drug abuse, Foreign relations, Government contracts, Grant programs-health, Government programs-veterans, Health care, Health facilities, Health professions, Health records, Homeless, VerDate Sep<11>2014 15:10 May 09, 2017 Jkt 241001 Medical and dental schools, Medical devices, Medical research, Mental health programs, Nursing homes, Philippines, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Scholarships and fellowships, Travel and transportation expenses, Veterans. Dated: May 5, 2017. Janet Coleman, Chief, Office of Regulation Policy & Management, Office of the Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs. [FR Doc. 2017–09449 Filed 5–9–17; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 8320–01–P ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 40 CFR Part 52 [EPA–R05–OAR–2016–0645 FRL–9962–10Region 5] Air Plan Approval; Indiana; Commissioner’s Orders for SABIC Innovative Plastics Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Proposed rule. AGENCY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve as a revision to the Indiana State Implementation Plan (SIP) a submittal from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to EPA, dated December 5, 2016. The submittal consists of an order issued by the Commissioner of IDEM that establishes permanent and enforceable sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission limits for SABIC Innovative Plastics (SABIC). IDEM submitted this order so the area near SABIC can be designated ‘‘attainment’’ of the 2010 primary SO2 National Ambient Air Quality Standards, a matter that will be addressed in a separate future rulemaking. EPA’s approval of this order would make these SO2 emission limits and applicable reporting, recordkeeping, and compliance demonstration requirements part of the federally enforceable Indiana SIP. DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 9, 2017. ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R05– OAR–2016–0645 at https:// www.regulations.gov or via email to aburano.douglas@epa.gov. For comments submitted at Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. For either manner of submission, EPA may publish any SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/ commenting-epa-dockets. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph Ko, Environmental Engineer, Attainment Planning and Maintenance Section, Air Programs Branch (AR–18J), Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 886–7947, ko.joseph@epa.gov. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State’s SIP submittal as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this rule, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time. Please note that if EPA receives adverse comment on an amendment, paragraph, or section of this rule and if that provision may be severed from the remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt as final those provisions of the rule that are not the subject of an adverse comment. For additional information, see the direct final rule which is located in the Rules section of this Federal Register. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: E:\FR\FM\10MYP1.SGM 10MYP1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 89 (Wednesday, May 10, 2017)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21747-21748]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-09449]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 17

RIN 2900-AO15


Use of Medicare Procedures To Enter Into Provider Agreements for 
Extended Care Services

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Withdrawal of proposed rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) published a notice of 
proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on February 13, 2013, that 
proposed amending its regulations to allow VA to enter into provider 
agreements to obtain extended care services for Veterans from community 
providers. Since publication of that proposed rule, further review has 
led VA to conclude VA cannot achieve the proposal's goals without a 
statutory change. For this reason, VA withdraws the proposed rule.

DATES: This proposed rule is withdrawn as of May 10, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Schoeps, Office of Geriatrics 
and Extended Care (10P4G), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont 
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20420; (202) 461-6763 (this is not a toll-
free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: VA published a notice of proposed rulemaking 
in the Federal Register on February 13, 2013, that proposed to allow VA 
to enter into provider agreements to obtain extended care services for 
Veterans from community providers under 38 U.S.C. 1720(c)(1) (see 78 FR 
10117). Since publication of that proposed rule, further review has led 
VA to conclude the goals of this regulation cannot be achieved without 
a statutory change. For this reason, VA withdraws the proposed rule. VA 
has proposed and continues to support legislation that would authorize 
VA to use provider agreements to purchase care in the community.
    After publication of the proposed rule, section 101 of the Veterans 
Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113-146, 128 
Stat.1754, hereafter referred to as ``the Choice Act'') created the 
Veterans Choice Program, which provides legal authority for VA to enter 
into provider agreements to obtain certain extended care services for 
Veterans. The Veterans Choice Program also has regulations, at 38 CFR 
17.1500, et seq., that are currently operational and have criteria 
similar to those in the proposed rule AO15, including eligibility 
standards for non-

[[Page 21748]]

VA providers and standards for payment rates.
    Although the Choice Act provider agreements are similar in kind, 
and might seem to provide the same authority, they do not. Proposed 
AO15 would have authorized the use of provider agreements to provide 
``extended care services,'' defined as ``geriatric evaluation; nursing 
home care; domiciliary services; adult day-health care; 
noninstitutional palliative care, noninstitutional hospice care, and 
home health care when they are noninstitutional alternatives to nursing 
home care; and respite care'' (see 70 FR 10121 (Feb. 13, 2013)). 
Although the Choice Act provides clear legal authority for VA to enter 
into provider agreements, the authority is limited to care authorized 
under the Veterans Choice Program for eligible Veterans and furnished 
by Choice-eligible providers. Further, the Veterans Choice Program 
covers only hospital care and medical services in VA's medical benefits 
package (see 38 CFR 17.38); this captures some extended care services 
(noninstitutional alternatives to nursing home care like adult day-
health care and respite care) but not the full scope of services 
proposed AO15 would have covered. Finally, the Veterans Choice Program 
will expire when the Choice Fund, established under section 802 of the 
Choice Act, has been exhausted. VA will continue to use provider 
agreements authorized by the Choice Act until the Veterans Choice 
Program expires, but to accomplish the goals of the proposed rule, 
Congress would need to enact a provider agreement provision authorizing 
VA to use provider agreements to purchase care in the community. For 
these reasons, VA withdraws the proposed rule.

Signing Authority

    The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or designee, approved this 
document and authorized the undersigned to sign and submit the document 
to the Office of the Federal Register for publication electronically as 
an official document of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Gina S. 
Farrisee, Deputy Chief of Staff, Department of Veterans Affairs, 
approved this document on May 4, 2017, for publication.

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 17

    Administrative practice and procedure, Alcohol abuse, Alcoholism, 
Claims, Day care, Dental health, Drug abuse, Foreign relations, 
Government contracts, Grant programs-health, Government programs-
veterans, Health care, Health facilities, Health professions, Health 
records, Homeless, Medical and dental schools, Medical devices, Medical 
research, Mental health programs, Nursing homes, Philippines, Reporting 
and recordkeeping requirements, Scholarships and fellowships, Travel 
and transportation expenses, Veterans.

    Dated: May 5, 2017.
Janet Coleman,
Chief, Office of Regulation Policy & Management, Office of the 
Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2017-09449 Filed 5-9-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8320-01-P
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.