Office of the Secretary of Defense – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The actions that will take place include the approval of the minutes from the Board of Regents meeting on November 7, 2005; acceptance of departmental reports; and the awarding of graduate degrees in the biomedical sciences from the Uniformed Services University (USU) School of Medicine. The President, USU; Dean, USU School of Medicine; Dean, USU Graduate School of Nursing; and Director, Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute will also present reports. These actions are necessary in order to remain an accredited medical school and to pursue our mission, which is to provide trained medical personnel to our uniformed services.

This rule implements Section 735 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (NDAA-02) (Pub. L. 107-107). It also implements Section 728 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (NDAA-01) (Pub. L. 106-398). Section 735 of NDAA-02 eliminates the requirement for TRICARE Standard beneficiaries who live within a 40-mile radius of a military medical treatment facility (MTF) to obtain a nonavailability statement (NAS) or preauthorization from an MTF before receiving inpatient care (other than mental health services) or maternity care from a civilian provider in order that TRICARE will cost-share for such services. Section 735 of NDAA-02, however, authorizes the Department of Defense to make exceptions to the elimination of the requirement for a NAS through the exercise of a waiver process under certain specified conditions. This section also eliminates the NAS requirement for specialized treatment services (STSs) for TRICARE Standard beneficiaries who live outside the 200-mile radius of a designated STS facility. This rule portrays the Department's decision to eliminate the STS program entirely. Finally, Section 728 of NDAA-01 requires that prior authorization before referral to a specialty care provider that is part of the contractor network be eliminated under any new TRICARE contract.