Department of Health and Human Services November 14, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the first in a series of federal advisory committee meetings regarding the national health promotion and disease prevention objectives for 2030. The first meeting will be held in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. These meetings will be open to the public. The Committee will review the nation's health promotion and disease prevention objectives and accomplishments and will recommend goals and objectives to improve the health status and reduce health risks for Americans by the year 2030. The Committee will advise the Secretary on the Healthy People 2030 mission statement, vision statement, framework, and organizational structure. The Committee will provide advice regarding developing criteria for identifying a more focused set of measurable, nationally representative objectives. The Committee's advice must assist the Secretary in reducing the number of objectives while ensuring that the selection criteria identifies the most critical public health issues that are high-impact priorities supported by current national data sets.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) 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 (the PRA).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is issuing an order under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act) permanently debarring Edward Manookian 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 Mr. Manookian was convicted of felonies under Federal law for conduct relating to the regulation of a drug product under the FD&C Act. Mr. Manookian was given notice of the proposed permanent debarment and an opportunity to request a hearing within the timeframe prescribed by regulation. Mr. Manookian failed to request a hearing. Mr. Manookian's failure to request a hearing constitutes a waiver of his right to a hearing concerning this action.

The inventions listed below are owned by an agency of the U.S. Government and are available for licensing in the U.S. in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR part 404 to achieve expeditious commercialization of federally-funded research and development. Foreign patent applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage for companies and may also be available for licensing.

This final rule with comment period revises the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) and the Medicare ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system for CY 2017 to implement applicable statutory requirements and changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems. In this final rule with comment period, we describe the changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the payment rates for Medicare services paid under the OPPS and those paid under the ASC payment system. In addition, this final rule with comment period updates and refines the requirements for the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program and the ASC Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program. Further, in this final rule with comment period, we are making changes to tolerance thresholds for clinical outcomes for solid organ transplant programs; to Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) definitions, outcome measures, and organ transport documentation; and to the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs. We also are removing the HCAHPS Pain Management dimension from the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program. In addition, we are implementing section 603 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 relating to payment for certain items and services furnished by certain off-campus provider-based departments of a provider. In this document, we also are issuing an interim final rule with comment period to establish the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule payment rates for the nonexcepted items and services billed by a nonexcepted off-campus provider-based department of a hospital in accordance with the provisions of section 603.