Health Resources and Services Administration March 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This proposed rule would revise existing regulations under sections 401-432 of the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986, governing the National Practitioner Data Bank for Adverse Information on Physicians and Other Health Care Practitioners, to incorporate statutory requirements under section 1921 of the Social Security Act, as amended by section 5(b) of the Medicare and Medicaid Patient and Program Protection Act of 1987, and as amended by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. The Medicare and Medicaid Patient and Program Protection Act of 1987, along with certain additional provisions in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, was designed to protect program beneficiaries from unfit health care practitioners, and otherwise improve the anti-fraud provisions of the Medicare and State health care programs. Section 1921, the statutory authority upon which this regulatory action is based, requires each State to adopt a system of reporting to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) certain adverse licensure actions taken against health care practitioners and health care entities licensed or otherwise authorized by a State (or a political subdivision thereof) to provide health care services. It also requires each State to report any negative actions or findings that a State licensing authority, peer review organization, or private accreditation entity has concluded against a health care practitioner or health care entity.

Federal Register Notice (volume 71, number 14, pp 3519-3520) published on January 23, 2006, inadvertently omitted information on the review and access of the material received in response to the solicitation of comments to assist HRSA in determining whether criteria developed by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) concerning organs procured from living donors, including those concerning the allocation of organs from living donors, should be given the same status, and be subject to the same enforcement actions, as other OPTN policies. Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to the Division of Transplantation, Healthcare Systems Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 12C-06, Rockville, Maryland 20857 weekdays (Federal holidays excepted) between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. To schedule an appointment to view public comments, phone (301) 443- 7757.