Office of Personnel Management July 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document sets forth interim final rules implementing certain provisions of the No Surprises Act, which was enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. These interim final rules amend and add provisions to existing rules under the Internal Revenue Code, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Public Health Service Act, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Act. These interim final rules implement provisions of the No Surprises Act that protect participants, beneficiaries, and enrollees in group health plans and group and individual health insurance coverage from surprise medical bills when they receive emergency services, non-emergency services from nonparticipating providers at participating facilities, and air ambulance services from nonparticipating providers of air ambulance services, under certain circumstances. In this rulemaking, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Department of the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) are issuing interim final rules with largely parallel provisions that apply to group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group or individual health insurance coverage. HHS is also issuing in this rulemaking additional interim final rules that apply to emergency departments of hospitals and independent freestanding emergency departments, health care providers and facilities, and providers of air ambulance services related to the protections against surprise billing. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing in this rulemaking interim final rules that specify how certain provisions of the No Surprises Act apply to health benefits plans offered by carriers under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Act (FEHBA).

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Human Resources Solutions Division, offers the general public and other federal agencies the opportunity to comment on an existing information collection request (ICR) 3206-0246, SFS Registration System. The information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on April 1, 2021 allowing for a 60-day public comment period. No comments were received for this information collection. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comments.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 as amended by the Clinger-Cohen Act, this notice announces that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) intends to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for review of an expiring information collection. Standard Form 1153, Claim for Unpaid Compensation for Deceased Civilian Employee, is used to collect information from individuals who have been designated as beneficiaries of the unpaid compensation of a deceased Federal employee who believe that their relationship to the deceased entitles them to receive the unpaid compensation of the deceased Federal employee. OPM needs this information in order to adjudicate the claim and properly assign a deceased Federal employee's unpaid compensation to the appropriate individual(s).