Department of Health and Human Services July 28, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that Indian Health Service (IHS) is establishing the geographic boundaries of the Purchased/Referred Care Delivery Area (PRCDA) (formerly Contract Health Service Delivery Area or CHSDA) for the newly recognized Pamunkey Indian Tribe. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe's PRCDA is to be comprised of Caroline; Hanover; Henrico; King William; King and Queen; and New Kent Counties and the independent city of Richmond in the State of Virginia. The six counties and the one independent city listed are being designated administratively as the PRCDA for the Pamunkey Indian Tribe.

This document announces the extension of statewide temporary moratoria on the enrollment of new Medicare Part B non-emergency ground ambulance providers and suppliers and Medicare home health agencies, subunits, and branch locations in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, as applicable, to prevent and combat fraud, waste, and abuse. This extension also applies to the enrollment of new non-emergency ground ambulance suppliers and home health agencies, subunits, and branch locations in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program in those states.

In compliance with the requirement of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 to provide opportunity for public comment on proposed data collection projects, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) will publish periodic summaries of propose projects to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is developing a list of drug products and categories of drug products that present demonstrable difficulties for compounding (the Difficult to Compound List). The Agency previously solicited nominations for this list and received approximately 71 unique nominations. FDA is establishing a new public docket so that interested parties can nominate drug products or categories of drug products that were not previously nominated for inclusion on the Difficult to Compound List, resubmit previous nominations with additional supporting information, or submit comments.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is classifying the oral removable palatal space occupying device for weight management and/or weight loss into class II (special controls). The special controls that will apply to the device are identified in this order and will be part of the codified language for the oral removable palatal space occupying device for weight management and/or weight loss classification. The Agency is classifying the device into class II (special controls) in order to provide a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness of the device.

The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA, the Agency, or we) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH or Center) is announcing its Software Precertification Pilot Program. The program aims to evaluate a new approach toward software products, including a precertification program for the assessment of companies that perform high-quality software design and testing. This voluntary pilot program is part of FDA's ongoing efforts to develop pragmatic approaches to balance benefits and risks of digital health products. FDA intends to develop a precertification program that could replace the need for a premarket submission in some cases and allow for decreased submission content and/or faster review of marketing applications for software products in other cases. During the pilot program, FDA customers, including pilot participants, will have the opportunity to provide input on the development of the precertification program.

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: ``The AHRQ Safety Program for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery.'' This proposed information collection was previously published in the Federal Register titled ``The AHRQ Safety Program for Enhancing Surgical Care and Recovery,'' on May 18, 2017 and allowed 60 days for public comment. AHRQ did not receive any substantive comments. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment.

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: ``Generic Clearance for Questionnaire and Data Collection Testing, Evaluation, and Research for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.'' This proposed information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on April 28, 2017, and allowed 60 days for public comment. No substantive comments were received. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment.

This proposed rule updates the home health prospective payment system (HH PPS) payment rates, including the national, standardized 60- day episode payment rates, the national per-visit rates, and the non- routine medical supply (NRS) conversion factor, effective for home health episodes of care ending on or after January 1, 2018. This rule also: updates the HH PPS case-mix weights using the most current, complete data available at the time of rulemaking; implements the 3rd- year of a 3-year phase-in of a reduction to the national, standardized 60-day episode payment to account for estimated case-mix growth unrelated to increases in patient acuity (that is, nominal case-mix growth) between CY 2012 and CY 2014; and discusses our efforts to monitor the potential impacts of the rebasing adjustments that were implemented in CY 2014 through CY 2017. This rule proposes case-mix methodology refinements, as well as a change in the unit of payment from 60-day episodes of care to 30-day periods of care, to be implemented for home health services beginning on or after January 1, 2019; and finally, this rule proposes changes to the Home Health Value- Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model and to the Home Health Quality Reporting Program (HH QRP).