Chronic beryllium disease prevention program; worker safety and health program. Final rule

The Department of Energy (DOE) is today publishing a final rule to implement the statutory mandate of section 3173 of the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2003 to establish worker safety and health regulations to govern contractor activities at DOE sites. This program codifies and enhances the worker protection program in operation when the NDAA was enacted.     

Medicare program; end-stage renal disease quality incentive program. Final rule

This final rule will implement a quality incentive program (QIP) for Medicare outpatient end-stage renal disease (ESRD) dialysis providers and facilities with payment consequences beginning January 1, 2012, in accordance with section 1881(h) of the Act (added on July 15, 2008 by section 153(c) of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA)). Under the ESRD QIP, ESRD payments made to dialysis providers and facilities under section 1881(b)(14) of the Social Security Act will be reduced by up to two percent if the providers/facilities fail to meet or exceed a total performance score with respect to performance standards established with respect to certain specified measures.     

Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program and Department of Defense (DoD) demonstration project; and other miscellaneous changes. Office of Personnel Management. Final rule

OPM is issuing a final regulation to implement the portion of the Defense Authorization Act for 1999 that establishes authority for a demonstration project under which certain Medicare and other eligible DoD beneficiaries can enroll in health benefit plans in certain geographic areas under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program. The demonstration project will run for a period of three years from January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2002. This regulation specifies only the requirements that differ from existing FEHB Program regulations because of unique aspects of the demonstration project. This regulation also makes other miscellaneous changes to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Acquisition Regulations.     

Food and Drug Administration-Redesignation of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as the Department of Health and Human Services. Final rule

The agency is amending Chapter I of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations to reflect the redesignation of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as the Department of Health and Human Services.     

Health insurance reform: standards for electronic transactions. Office of the Secretary, HHS. Final rule

This rule adopts standards for eight electronic transactions and for code sets to be used in those transactions. It also contains requirements concerning the use of these standards by health plans, health care clearinghouses, and certain health care providers. The use of these standard transactions and code sets will improve the Medicare and Medicaid programs and other Federal health programs and private health programs, and the effectiveness and efficiency of the health care industry in general, by simplifying the administration of the system and enabling the efficient electronic transmission of certain health information. It implements some of the requirements of the Administrative Simplification subtitle of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.     

The Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act. Department of Veterans Affairs. Final rule

This document amends Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations to reflect changes made by the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act. These changes concern payment of dependency and indemnity compensation to the surviving spouses of certain former prisoners of war; the provision of health care, education and home loan benefits to surviving spouses upon termination of their remarriages; and the addition of bronchiolo-alveolar carcinoma to the list of diseases that VA presumes are the result of exposure to radiation during active military service.     

Use of personal sampling devices during inspection--Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Final rule

This document amends 29 CFR 1903.7 to expressly authorize compliance officers to use personal sampling devices and to attach such devices to employees during the conduct of workplace inspections. This amendment is necessitated by conflicting judicial decisions as to whether the present regulation provides sufficient authorization for OSHA to use personal sampling devices.     

Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program and Department of Defense (DoD) demonstration project. Office of Personnel Management. Final rule

OPM is issuing a final regulation to implement the portion of the National Defense Authorization Act for 1999 that establishes authority for a demonstration project under which certain Medicare and other eligible DoD beneficiaries can enroll in health benefit plans in certain geographic areas under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program. The demonstration project will run for a period of three years from January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2002. This regulation specifies only the requirements that differ from existing FEHB Program regulations because of unique aspects of the demonstration project.     

Occupational Safety and Health Administration--Access to employee exposure and medical records. Final rule

This final occupational safety and health standard, promulgated today as a revised 29 CFR 1910.20, provides for employee, designated representative, and OSHA access to employer-maintained exposure and medical records relevant to employees exposed to toxic substances and harmful physical agents. Access is also assured to employer analyses using exposure and medical records. The final standard requires long term preservation of these records, contains provisions concerning informing employees of their rights under the standard, and includes provisions protective of trade secret information.     

Family and medical leave. Office of Personnel Management. Final rule

The Office of Personnel Management is issuing final regulations on the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to ensure that both employees' and agencies' rights are protected and their responsibilities fulfilled.     

Traineeships. National Institutes of Health, HHS. Final rule

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is amending the regulations governing traineeships to add conditions under which NIH may terminate traineeship awards and revise the authorities for the awards.     

Health care fraud and abuse data collection program: reporting of final adverse actions. Office of Inspector General (OIG), HHS. Final rule

This final rule establishes a new CFR part to implement the statutory requirements of section 1128E of the Social Security Act, as added by section 221(a) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. Section 221(a) of HIPAA specifically directs the Secretary to establish a national health care fraud and abuse data collection program for the reporting and disclosing of certain final adverse actions taken against health care providers, suppliers and practitioners, and to maintain a data base of final adverse actions taken against health care providers, suppliers and practitioners.     

Occupational injury and illness recording and reporting requirements. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U.S. Department of Labor. Final rule

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is revising its rule addressing the recording and reporting of occupational injuries and illnesses (29 CFR parts 1904 and 1952), including the forms employers use to record those injuries and illnesses. The revisions to the final rule will produce more useful injury and illness records, collect better information about the incidence of occupational injuries and illnesses on a national basis, promote improved employee awareness and involvement in the recording and reporting of job-related injuries and illnesses, simplify the injury and illness recordkeeping system for employers, and permit increased use of computers and telecommunications technology for OSHA recordkeeping purposes. This rulemaking completes a larger overall effort to revise Part 1904 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Two sections of Part 1904 have already been revised in earlier rulemakings. A rule titled Reporting fatalities and multiple hospitalization incidents to OSHA, became effective May 2, 1994 and has been incorporated into this final rule as Section 1904.39. A second rule entitled Annual OSHA injury and illness survey of ten or more employers became effective on March 13, 1997 and has been incorporated into this final rule as Section 1904.41. The final rule being published today also revises 29 CFR 1952.4, Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements, which prescribes the recordkeeping and reporting requirements for States that have an occupational safety and health program approved by OSHA under Section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (the "Act" or "OSH Act").     

Protection of human research subjects. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Final rule

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is amending its human subjects protection regulations. These regulations provide additional protections for pregnant women and human fetuses involved in research and pertains to human in vitro fertilization. The rule continues the special protections for pregnant women and human fetuses that have existed since 1975. The rule enhances the opportunity for participation of pregnant women in research by promoting a policy of presumed inclusion, by permitting the pregnant woman to be the sole decision maker with regard to her participation in research, and by exempting from the regulations six categories of research. The rule also provides a mechanism for the Secretary of HHS to conduct or fund research not otherwise approvable after consultation with an expert panel and public review and comment.     

Health maintenance organizations--PHS. Final rule; confirmation of interim rule

This document finalizes, without change, the interim rule published on January 12, 1983, that amends the Public Health Service regulations on Federal qualification of health maintence organizations (HMOs) to provide for greater flexibility for already existing prepaid health care delivery systems to become transitionally qualified HMOs.     

Health standards for occupational noise exposure. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Labor. Final rule

This final comprehensive rule replaces MSHA's existing standards for occupational noise exposure in coal mines and metal and nonmetal mines. The final rule establishes uniform requirements to protect the Nation's miners from occupational noise-induced hearing loss. The rule is derived in part from existing MSHA noise standards, and from the Department of Labor's existing occupational noise exposure standard for general industry promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). As a result of the Agency's ongoing review of its safety and health standards, MSHA determined that its existing noise standards, which are more than twenty years old, do not adequately protect miners from occupational noise-induced hearing loss. A significant risk to miners of material impairment of health from workplace exposure to noise over a working lifetime exists when miners' exposure exceeds an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA8) of 85 dBA. MSHA expects that the final rule will significantly reduce the risk of material impairment within the mining industry as a whole.     

Quality management program and misadministrations--Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Final rule

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending regulations governing therapeutic administrations of byproduct material and certain uses of radioactive sodium iodide to require implementation of a quality management program to provide high confidence that the byproduct material or radiation from byproduct material will be administered as directed by an authorized user physician. The Commission believes this performance-based amendment will result in enhanced patient safety in a cost-effective manner while allowing the flexibility necessary to minimize intrusion into medical judgments. This amendment also modifies the notification, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements related to the quality management program and misadministrations.     

Federal employees dental and vision insurance program. Final rule

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing final regulations to administer the Federal Employee Dental and Vision Benefits Enhancement Act of 2004, signed into law December 23, 2004. This law establishes dental and vision benefits programs for Federal employees, annuitants, and their eligible family members.