Department of Health and Human Services November 26, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces our decision to approve 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 National Institutes of Health (NIH) will place in the docket for public review and comment a report resulting from the NIH Evidence-Based Methodology Workshop on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, to be held December 3-5, 2012. The purpose of the report is to summarize the workshop and identify future research priorities. The report will be available online beginning December 7, 2012, at https://prevention.nih.gov/ workshops/2012/pcos/default.aspx.

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 Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 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: Methodological Studies for Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study. Type of Information Collection Request: New. Need and Use of Information Collection: The PATH study will establish a population-based framework for monitoring and evaluating the behavioral and health impacts of regulatory provisions implemented as part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). NIDA is requesting generic approval from OMB for methodological studies to improve the PATH study instrumentation and data collection procedures. These methodological studies will support ongoing assessment and refinement of the PATH study's design, and highlight ways to improve study implementation and techniques for retention and followup. Data collection methods to be used in these methodological studies include: in-person and telephone surveys; web and smartphone/ mobile phone surveys; and focus group and individual in-depth qualitative interviews. Biospecimens may also be collected from adults. Frequency of Response: Annual [As needed on an on-going and concurrent basis]. Affected Public: Individuals. Type of Respondents: Youth (ages 12-17) and Adults (ages 18+). Annual Reporting Burden: See Table 1. The annualized cost to respondents is estimated at: $227,562. There are no capital, operating or maintenance costs.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the Web site location where the Agency will post two lists of guidance documents that the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) is intending to publish in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013. In addition, FDA has established a docket where stakeholders may provide comments and/or propose draft language for those topics, suggest new or different guidance documents, and comment on the priority of topics for guidance.

This proposed rule would implement the Affordable Care Act's policies related to fair health insurance premiums, guaranteed availability, guaranteed renewability, risk pools, and catastrophic plans. The proposed rule would clarify the approach used to enforce the applicable requirements of the Affordable Care Act with respect to health insurance issuers and group health plans that are non-federal governmental plans. This proposed rule would also amend the standards for health insurance issuers and states regarding reporting, utilization, and collection of data under section 2794 of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act). It also revises the timeline for states to propose state-specific thresholds for review and approval by CMS.

This document proposes amendments to regulations, consistent with the Affordable Care Act, regarding nondiscriminatory wellness programs in group health coverage. Specifically, these proposed regulations would increase the maximum permissible reward under a health-contingent wellness program offered in connection with a group health plan (and any related health insurance coverage) from 20 percent to 30 percent of the cost of coverage. The proposed regulations would further increase the maximum permissible reward to 50 percent for wellness programs designed to prevent or reduce tobacco use. These regulations also include other proposed clarifications regarding the reasonable design of health-contingent wellness programs and the reasonable alternatives they must offer in order to avoid prohibited discrimination.