Office of the Secretary October 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Transportation is directing all interested persons to show cause why it should not issue an order finding MAXjet Airways, Inc., fit, willing, and able, and awarding it a certificate of public convenience and necessity to engage in interstate scheduled air transportation of persons, property and mail.

As required by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), Public Law 108-173, this proposed rule would establish a new safe harbor under the Federal anti-kickback statute for certain arrangements involving the provision of electronic prescribing technology. Specifically, the safe harbor would protect certain arrangements involving hospitals, group practices, and prescription drug plan (PDP) sponsors and Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations that provide to specified recipients certain nonmonetary remuneration in the form of hardware, software, or information technology and training services necessary and used solely to receive and transmit electronic prescription drug information. In addition, using our separate legal authority under section 1128B(b)(3)(E) of the Social Security Act (the ``Act''), we are also proposing separate safe harbor protection for certain electronic health records software and directly related training services. These exceptions are consistent with the President's goal of achieving widespread adoption of interoperable electronic health records for the purpose of improving the quality and efficiency of health care, while maintaining the levels of security and privacy that consumers expect.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense proposes to add a system of records to its inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

This proposal would amend Department of Transportation regulations implementing the governmentwide nonprocurement suspension and debarment requirements. Specifically, the DOT proposes to adopt the optional lower tier coverage prohibiting excluded parties from participating in subcontracts at tiers lower than the first tier below a covered nonprocurement transaction.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) is issuing public notice of its intent to create a Privacy Act (PA) system of records in its inventory of records systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974. This action is necessary to meet the requirements of the Privacy Act to publish in the Federal Register notice of the existence and character of records systems maintained by the agency. The new system of records is captioned, ``Interior/DOI-16,'' and is titled, ``DOI LEARN.'' 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(11) requires that the public be provided a 30-day period in which to comment on the agency's intended use of the information in the system of records. The Office of Management and Budget, in its Circular A-130, requires an additional 10-day period in which to make comments. Any persons interested in commenting on this proposed amendment may do so by submitting comments in writing to the Departmental Privacy Act Officer, U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Mail Stop (MS)-5312-Main Interior Building (MIB), 1849 C Street, NW., Washington, DC 20240, (202) 219-0868 or by e-mail to MarilynLegnini@ios.doi.gov. Comments received within 40 days of publication in the Federal Register will be considered. The system will be effective as proposed at the end of the comment period unless comments are received which would require a contrary determination. The Department will publish a revised notice if changes are made based upon a review of comments received.

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of a section 36(b)(1) arms sales notification. This is published to fulfill the requirements of section 155 of Public Law 104-164 dated 21 July 1996.

The Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) is proposing to amend its existing regulations that implement the Equal Access to Justice Act to bring them up to date with amendments to the statute that have been enacted since OHA adopted the existing regulations in 1983.