Department of Health and Human Services May 10, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announces the availability of additional technical instructions and documents released under its Framework for Conditional Sailing Order (CSO). These documents apply to cruise ship operators with cruise ships operating in U.S. waters and cruise ship operators who are operating cruise ships outside of U.S. waters, but intend for their cruise ships to return to operating in U.S. waters while CDC's Conditional Sailing Order remains in effect.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the Agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Federal Agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on the information collection associated with recommended content of medical product communications that are consistent with the FDA-required labeling and recommendations for drug and device manufacturer communications with payors, formulary committees, and similar entities.

ACF, ORR announces the issuance of multiple Single-Source Awards to seven recipients in the amount of $65,366,800. ORR has been identifying additional permanent capacity to provide shelter for recent increases in apprehensions of Unaccompanied Children (UC) at the Southwest Border. The addition of permanent capacity is a prudent step to ensure that ORR is able to meet its responsibility, by law, to provide shelter and appropriate services for UC referred to its care by the Department of Homeland Security.

We are proposing to revise the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals to implement changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems for FY 2022 and to implement certain recent legislation. In addition, we are proposing to rebase and revise the hospital market baskets for acute care hospitals, update the labor-related share, and provide the market basket update that would apply to the rate-of-increase limits for certain hospitals excluded from the IPPS that are paid on a reasonable cost basis, subject to these limits for FY 2022. We are also proposing policies relating to Medicare graduate medical education (GME) for teaching hospitals to implement certain recent legislation. The proposed rule would also update the payment policies and the annual payment rates for the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient hospital services provided by long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) for FY 2022. In this FY 2022 IPPS/LTCH PPS proposed rule, we are proposing to extend New COVID-19 Treatments Add-on Payment (NCTAP) for certain eligible products through the end of the fiscal year in which the PHE ends and to discontinue the NCTAP for discharges on or after October 1, 2021 for a product that is approved for new technology add-on payments beginning FY 2022. We are also proposing to repeal the collection of market-based rate information on the Medicare cost report and the market-based MS- DRG relative weight methodology, as finalized in the FY 2021 IPPS/LTCH PPS final rule. We are proposing to establish new requirements and revise existing requirements for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) participating in the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program. We are also providing estimated and newly established performance standards for the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program, and proposing updated policies for the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program, Hospital VBP Program, Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program, and the PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospital Reporting (PCHQR) Program, and the Long-Term Care Hospital Quality Reporting Program (LTCH QRP). Additionally, due to the impact of the COVID-19 PHE on measure data used in our value-based purchasing programs, we are proposing to suppress several measures in the Hospital VBP, HAC Reduction, and Hospital Readmissions Reduction Programs. In connection with our measure suppression proposals for the FY 2022 Hospital VBP Program, we are also proposing to revise the scoring and payment methodology for the FY 2022 program year such that hospitals will not be scored using quality measure data that are distorted by the effects of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) and will not receive Total Performance Scores or adjustments to their payments as a result. Similarly, we are proposing to suppress affected measures for the FY 2022 HAC Reduction Program such that hospitals will not be scored using distorted quality measure data and will not receive Total HAC Scores based on those data. For the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, we are proposing to suppress one affected measure under the proposed measure suppression policy for the FY 2023 applicable period such that hospitals will not be assessed using distorted quality measure data and will not receive payment reductions based on those data. In addition, we are proposing to change, clarify, and codify Medicare organ acquisition payment policies relative to organ procurement organizations (OPOs), transplant hospitals, and donor community hospitals. Also, we are proposing to add regulation requiring that state Medicaid agencies accept valid enrollments from all Medicare-enrolled providers and suppliers for purposes of processing claims for Medicare cost-sharing liability for services furnished to Medicare-Medicaid dually eligible individuals in order to alleviate a long-standing problem related to claiming Medicare bad debt. Additionally, we are proposing to amend the Medicare Shared Savings Program regulations to allow eligible accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in the BASIC track's glide path the opportunity to maintain their current level of participation for performance year (PY) 2022.