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.     

Sick leave for family care purposes. Office of Personnel Management. Final rule

The Office of Personnel Management is issuing final regulations to expand the use of sick leave for family care purposes. Under the final regulations, an employee may use a total of up to 12 weeks of accrued sick leave each year to care for a family member with a serious health condition. This benefit broadens the options available for employees to meet their family responsibilities.     

Reduction because of hospitalization--VA. Final rule

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has amended its adjudication regulations on reductions of pensions of certain veterans receiving institutional care. These amendments are based on recently enacted legislation and further consideration of previous legislation. The intended effect of these amendments is to minimize pension reductions when VA provides institutional care.     

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993--VA. Final rule

This document amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations to extend the date concerning limitation of pension benefits for veterans and surviving spouses receiving Medicaid-covered nursing home care. This amendment is necessary to conform the regulations to statutory provisions.     

Delegations of authority and organization; Office of the Commissioner--FDA. Final rule

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the regulations for delegations of authority to redelegate the Commissioner's authority to designate primary jurisdiction over the premarket review and regulation of combination products under section 503(g)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 353(g)(1)) a provision of the Safe Medical Devices Act of 1990 to the ombudsman as the product jurisdiction officer, Office of the Commissioner. Under a regulation published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, the FDA ombudsman is the designated product jurisdiction officer.     

Procurement regulations--Office of Personnel Management. Final rule

These regulations call for the simultaneous submission of Federal Employees Health Benefit (FEHB) carriers' benefit and rate proposals. The regulations will permit an assessment of the impact of benefit and rate proposals on both the Government and enrollees in a more timely and orderly fashion than is possible with the present FEHB contract negotiation cycle.     

Recordkeeping and reporting under Title VII and the ADA--EEOC. Final rule

This final rule is based on two separate Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) published on February 13, 1989 (54 FR 6551), and March 5, 1991 (56 FR 9185). This final rule amends 29 CFR part 1602, EEOC's regulations on Recordkeeping and Reporting under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (title VII), to add recordkeeping requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). It increases the records retention period required in part 1602 for title VII and the ADA from 6 months to one year. The Commission also is adding a new subpart R to part 1602, 29 CFR 1602.56, that will clarify that the Commission has the authority to investigate persons to determine whether they comply with the reporting or recordkeeping requirements of part 1602. In addition, the Commission is making several minor changes to sections 1602.7 and 1602.10. The Commission also is deleting section 1602.14(b) of its title VII recordkeeping regulations, which provides that the section 1602 recordkeeping requirements do not apply to temporary or seasonal positions. Information regarding such employees now must be reported on Standard Form 100 on September 30 of each year, in the same fashion as information regarding permanent employees is reported. Similarly, the Commission is deleting sections 1627.3(b) and 1627.4(a)(2) of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act recordkeeping regulations, which provide for a 90-day retention period for temporary positions, and is clarifying the mandatory nature of such recordkeeping. The Commission is not issuing a final rule on proposed section 1602.57 at this time.     

Equipment acquired under public assistance programs--HHS. Final rule

This rule revises and consolidates current HHS regulations concerning Federal financial participation in the cost of equipment under HHS supported public assistance programs. The rule also revises and consolidates current regulations on the management and disposition of equipment under these programs. The rule would permit State public assistance agencies to claim the cost of most of their equipment acquired at the time of purchase rather than depreciating the equipment over its useful life as required by the current regulations. This change would allow these agencies to claim Federal financial participation in the cost of the equipment at an earlier date than under the current regulations and would simplify the accounting requirements associated with the equipment.     

Privacy Act of 1974; proposed implementation. Office of the Secretary, HHS. Final rule

The Department of Health and Human Services is exempting a new system of records, 09-25-0213, "Administration: Investigative Records, HHS/NIH/OM/OA/OMA," from certain requirements of the Privacy Act to protect records compiled in the course of an inquiry and/or investigation and to protect the identity of confidential sources who furnish information to the Government under an express promise that the identity of such source would be held in confidence.     

Privacy Act; implementation. Office of Inspector General (OIG), HHS. Final rule

This final rule exempts the new system of records, the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB), from certain provisions of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a). The establishment of the HIPDB is required by section 1128E of the Social Security Act (the Act), as added by section 221(a) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. Section 1128E of the Act directed 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 or practitioners, and to maintain a data base of final adverse actions taken against health care providers, suppliers and practitioners. Regulations implementing the new HIPDB were published in the Federal Register on October 26, 1999 (64 FR 57740). The exemption being set forth in this rule applies to investigative materials compiled for law enforcement purposes.     

Procedures for transportation workplace drug and alcohol testing programs. Office of the Secretary, DOT. Final rule

The Department of Transportation is revising its drug and alcohol testing procedures regulation. The purposes of the revision are to make the organization and language of the regulation clearer, to incorporate guidance and interpretations of the rule into its text, and to update the rule to include new provisions responding to changes in technology, the testing industry, and the Department's program.     

Federal Employees Health Benefits Program--Office of Personnel Management. Final rule

These regulations call for the simultaneous submission of Federal Employees Health Benefit (FEHB) carriers' benefit and rate proposals. The regulations will permit an assessment of the impact of benefit and rate proposals on both the Government and enrollees in a more timely and orderly fashion than is possible with the present FEHB contract negotiation cycle.     

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.     

Exemption of certain systems of records under the Privacy Act. Final rule

This final rule exempts four systems of records (SORs) from subsections (c)(3), (d)(1) through (d)(4), (e)(4)(G) and (H), and (f) of the Privacy Act pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2): The Automated Survey Processing Environment (ASPEN) Complaint/ Incidents Tracking System (ACTS), HHS/CMS, System No. 09-70-0565; the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Information Tracking System (HITS), HHS/CMS, System No. 09-70-0544; the Organ Procurement Organizations System (OPOS), HHS/CMS, System No. 09-70- 0575; and the Fraud Investigation Database (FID), HHS/CMS, System No. 09-70-0527.     

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.     

Delegations of authority and organization--FDA. Final rule

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the regulations for delegations of authority and organization to set forth the current organizational structure of the agency as well as the current addresses for headquarters and field offices. This action is necessary to ensure the continued accuracy of the regulations.     

Statement of organization and functions. Final rule

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is amending its statement of organization and functions to reflect the transfer of the National Injury Information Clearinghouse from the Office of Information Services to the Directorate for Epidemiology.     

Chronic beryllium disease prevention program. Office of Environment, Safety and Health, Department of Energy. Final rule

The Department of Energy (DOE) is today publishing a final rule to establish a chronic beryllium disease prevention program (CBDPP) to reduce the number of workers currently exposed to beryllium in the course of their work at DOE facilities managed by DOE or its contractors, minimize the levels of, and potential for, exposure to beryllium, and establish medical surveillance requirements to ensure early detection of the disease. This program improves and codifies provisions of a temporary CBDPP established by DOE directive in 1997.     

Deletion of regulations pertaining to certain social services programs under the Social Security act: Office of Human Development Services, HHS. Final rule

Pub. L 97-35, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, combined the social services programs administered under title XX of the Social Security Act in the States and in the Territories under titles 1, IV-A, X, XIV and XVI (AABD), into a single block grant known as "The Title XX Block Grant to States for Social Services." The block grant program is effective October 1, 1981. Since existing regulations governing those programs do not apply to the block grant program, this rule deletes both entire Parts and references within a Part that apply to the above grant-in-aid programs. These regulations also remove the Department's day care requirements which were issued under statutory authorities that no longer exist as a result of various changes made by Pub. L 97-35.