Department of Health and Human Services June 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

HHS gives notice of a decision to designate a class of employees for Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, as an addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. On June 18, 2009, the Secretary of HHS designated the following class of employees as an addition to the SEC:

This rule finalizes our proposal to rescind the December 28, 2007 final rule entitled, ``Elimination of Reimbursement under Medicaid for School Administration Expenditures and Costs Related to Transportation of School-Age Children Between Home and School;'' the November 7, 2008 final rule entitled, ``Clarification of Outpatient Hospital Facility (Including Outpatient Hospital Clinic) Services Definition;'' and certain provisions of the December 4, 2007 interim final rule entitled, ``Optional State Plan Case Management Services.'' These regulations have been the subject of Congressional moratoria and have not yet been implemented (or, with respect to the case management interim final rule, have only been partially implemented) by CMS. In light of concerns raised about the adverse effects that could result from these regulations, in particular, the potential restrictions on services available to beneficiaries and the lack of clear evidence demonstrating that the approaches taken in the regulations are warranted, CMS is rescinding the two final rules in full, and partially rescinding the interim final rule. Rescinding these provisions will permit further opportunity to determine the best approach to further the objectives of the Medicaid program in providing necessary health benefits coverage to needy individuals.

This notice announces the intention of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to request that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve the proposed information collection project: ``Health IT Community Tracking Study 2009.'' In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), AHRQ invites the public to comment on this proposed information collection.

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, OCSE is publishing notice of a new computer matching program between OCSE and State Agencies administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

CMS proposes to add a new routine use to its inventory of SOR subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (Title 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 552a) authorizing disclosure of individually identifiable information to assist in efforts to respond to a suspected or confirmed breach of the security or confidentiality of information maintained in these systems of records. The new routine use will be prioritized in the next consecutive numbered order of routine uses in each system notice and will be included in the next published notice as part of our normal SOR review process. The new routine use will read as follows:

This proposed notice acknowledges the receipt of an application from the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF) for continued recognition as a national accrediting organization for ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) that wish to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. The statute requires that we publish, within 60 days of receipt of an organization's complete application, a notice identifying the national accrediting body making the request, describing the nature of the request, and providing at least a 30-day public comment period.

This proposed notice acknowledges the receipt of a deeming application from the Joint Commission for continued recognition as a national accrediting organization for hospitals that wish to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. The statute requires that we publish within 60 days of receipt of an organization's complete application, a notice that identifies the national accrediting body making the request, describes the nature of the request, and provides at least a 30-day public comment period.