Department of Health and Human Services November 9, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under the provisions of Section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Clinical Center Department of Bioethics, the National Institutes of Health has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve the information collection listed below. This proposed information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on November 28, 2011 on page 72955-72956 [FR DOC 2011-30548] and allowed 60-days for public comment. Two comments were received by the NIH Department of Bioethics. The comments we received included one request from a survey firm that was interested in possibly administering the survey, and one request from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) that was interested in knowing what items were in the survey instrument. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment. The National Institutes of Health may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Proposed Collection: Title: Ethical Dilemmas in Surgery and Utilization of Hospital Ethics Consultation Service: A Survey. Type of Information Collection Request: NEW. Need and Use of Information Collection: This survey is intended to collect information about the ethical dilemmas that surgeons have faced in their practices over the past year, and assess their experiences, if any, with their hospital consultation services. Specifically, the information gathered in this study will be valuable in understanding the ethical dilemmas that surgeons face, the utility of institution ethics consultations services for surgeons, and to identify what barriers, if any, discourage surgeons from utilizing these services. The results of this study can be used by medical professionals, hospitals, and bioethicists in several important ways. First, they will provide a better understanding the ethical dilemmas that surgeons face in their practices. Second, they will provide understanding of factors that determine the current utilization of hospital consultation services by surgeons. Third, information collected on the barriers to surgeons' use of ethics consultation services will provide better insight into the perspective and culture of surgery as it relates to ethical dilemmas in their practices and how ethics consultation services could better support surgeons when faced with these dilemmas. Frequency of Response: Once. Affected Public: Individuals; Businesses or other for-profit. Type of Respondents: Individuals. The annual reporting burden is as follows:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the availability of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (PAG) Mid-course Report and solicits written comments on the draft report. A subcommittee of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN) was convened to complete the PAG Mid- course Report. The subcommittee was tasked with reviewing the evidence on intervention strategies that have been shown to be effective in increasing physical activity among youth ages 3-17. The report is a review-of-reviews which highlights research from a variety of settings in which physical activity can successfully be implemented for youth, including school, community, preschool/childcare, home/family, and primary care settings. In addition, the report identifies areas for future research. The intent of this report is to serve as a complement to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2008 which recommends that youth ages 6-17 engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day and provides strategies for increasing physical activity in youth toward meeting the PAG. Although the PAG did not include specific recommendations for youth younger than age 6, the PAG Mid-course Report includes intervention strategies in the preschool/childcare setting. This is a response to new science on physical activity among young children and supports HHS' efforts through Healthy People 2020 to promote physical activity in childcare settings. The subcommittee has completed its draft report and is soliciting public comment before the report is presented to PCFSN for deliberation, and subsequent submission to the Secretary, HHS.

This final rule updates and makes revisions to the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) prospective payment system (PPS) for calendar year (CY) 2013. This rule also sets forth requirements for the ESRD quality incentive program (QIP), including for payment year (PY) 2015 and beyond. In addition, this rule implements changes to bad debt reimbursement for all Medicare providers, suppliers, and other entities eligible to receive Medicare payment for bad debt and removes the cap on bad debt reimbursement to ESRD facilities. (See the Table of Contents for a listing of the specific issues addressed in this final rule.)