Department of Health and Human Services August 9, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Through this advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), the Office of the National Coordination for Health Information Technology (ONC) is soliciting public comments on metadata standards to support nationwide electronic health information exchange. We are specifically interested in public comments on the following categories of metadata recommended by both the HIT Policy Committee and HIT Standards Committee: patient identity; provenance; and privacy. We also request public comments on any additional metadata categories, metadata elements, or metadata syntax that should be considered. The immediate scope of this ANPRM is the association of metadata with summary care records. More specifically, in the scenario where a patient obtains a summary care record from a health care provider's electronic health record technology or requests for it to be transmitted to their personal health record. Public comment, however, is also welcome on the use of metadata relative to other electronic health information contexts.

The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues will conduct its sixth meeting in August. At this meeting, the Commission will discuss research into the U.S. Public Health Service STD inoculation and serological studies in Guatemala from 1946-1948, and the current Federal standards regarding human subjects protection in scientific studies.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is denying Ray Nathan's request for a hearing and is issuing an order under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act) permanently debarring Nathan from providing services in any capacity to a person that has an approved or pending drug product application. FDA bases this order on a finding that Nathan was convicted of a felony under Federal law for conduct relating to the development or approval, including the process for development or approval, of any drug product. Nathan has failed to file with the Agency information and analysis sufficient to create a basis for a hearing concerning this action.

In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, for opportunity for public comment on proposed data collection projects, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Proposed Collection: Title: Hispanic Community Health Study (HCHS)/ Study of Latinos (SOL). Type of Information Collection Request: Revision of currently approved collection. (OMB 0925-0584). Need and Use of Information Collection: A baseline examination was conducted from March 3, 2008 to June 30, 2011. HCHS will follow-up new participants enrolled in the past year by telephone for dietary data, and continue to conduct annual follow-up of all participants by telephone to ascertain morbidity and mortality. Physicians/health care providers will be contacted to verify reported events for outcomes ascertainment. The Hispanic Community Health Study (HCHS)/Study of Latinos (SOL) will identify risk factors for cardiovascular and lung disease in Hispanic populations and determine the role of acculturation in the prevalence and development of these diseases. Frequency of Response: The participants will be contacted annually. Affected Public: Individuals or households; Businesses or other for profit; Small businesses or organizations. Type of Respondents: Individuals or households; physicians/health care providers. The annual reporting burden is as follows: Estimated Number of Respondents: 17,284; Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 1; Average Burden Hours Per Response: 0.3072; and Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours Requested: 5,309. The annualized cost to respondents is estimated at $104,718, assuming respondents time at the rate of $15 per hour and physician time at the rate of $55 per hour. There are no Capital Costs to report. There are no Operating or Maintenance Costs to report.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the special controls for the herpes simplex virus (HSV) serological assay device type, which is classified as class II (special controls). These device types are devices that consist of antigens and antisera used in various serological tests to identify antibodies to herpes simplex virus in serum, and the devices that consist of herpes simplex virus antisera conjugated with a fluorescent dye (immunofluorescent assays) used to identify herpes simplex virus directly from clinical specimens or tissue culture isolates derived from clinical specimens.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing that a proposed collection of information has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.