Health system agencies and state health planning development agencies; certificate of need reviews--HRSA. Notice regarding adjustment of the expenditure minimum for capital expenditures and the expenditure minimum for annual operating costs

This notice provides necessary information for each State which chooses to adjust the capital expenditure and annual operating cost expenditure minimums that are used to determine whether proposals are subject to review under a State's certificate of need program. The notice also provides guidance to assist a State Health Planning and Development Agency (State Agency) in determining the exact minimum dollar figure it will use and in seeking further information.     

Health systems agencies and state health planning and development agencies; certificate of need reviews--Health Resources and Services Administration. Notice regarding adjustment of the expenditure minimum for capital expenditures and the expenditure minimum for annual operating costs

This notice provides necessary information for each State which chooses to adjust the capital expenditure and annual operating cost expenditure minimums that are used to determine whether proposals are subject to review under a State's certificate of need program. The notice also provides guidance to assist a State Health Planning and Development Agency (State Agency) in determining the exact minimum dollar figure it will use and in seeking further information.     

Health systems agencies and state health planning development agencies; certificate of need reviews--HRSA. Notice regarding adjustment of the expenditure minimum for annual operating costs

This notice provides necessary information for each State which chooses to adjust the capital expenditure and annual operating cost expenditure minimums that are used to determine whether proposals are subject to review under a State's certificate of need program. The notice also provides guidance to assist a State Health Planning and Development Agency (State Agency) in determining the exact minimum dollar figure it will use and in seeking further information.     

Social Security Amendments of 1983--Public Health Service. Notice of changes in the review thresholds under Section 1122

This notice provides information on the Social Security Amendments of 1983 (Pub. L. 98-21) which were effective upon enactment on April 20, 1983. Under Section 1122 of the Social Security Act, the expenditure threshold for reviews of capital expenditures is changed from $100,000 to $600,000 and an exemption from review is provided for HMOs (and similar entities) if certain conditions are met. In addition, the amendments require all hospitals participating in the Medicare program to provide their overall 3-year capital expenditure plans to the designated planning agency or other appropriate health planning agency in the State.     

Grants to state health planning and development agencies determination of population of the states--Health Resources and Services Administration

This notice provides the population figures the Department will use when it determines the amount of grants to State Health Planning and Development Agencies (State Agencies).     

Grants to State Health Planning and Development Agencies--HRSA. Notice regarding grants to State Health Planning and Development Agencies--determination of population of the States

This notice provides the population figures the Department will use when it determines the amount of grants to State Health Planning and Development Agencies (States Agencies).     

Medicare and Medicaid programs; mandatory use, collection, encoding, and transmission of Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) for home health agencies. Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), HHS. Notice

This notice announces to home health agencies (HHAs), State survey agencies, Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, software vendors, and the general public changes to and effective dates for OASIS implementation. This notice announces the effective dates for the mandatory use, collection, encoding, and transmission of OASIS data for all Medicare/Medicaid patients receiving skilled services. For non-Medicare/non-Medicaid patients receiving skilled services, there will be no encoding and transmission until further notice, but HHAs must conduct comprehensive assessments and updates at the required time points. For patients receiving personal care only services, regardless of payor source, we are delaying the requirements regarding OASIS use, collection, encoding, and transmission until further notice. We expect to begin implementation of OASIS for non-Medicare/non-Medicaid patients receiving skilled care and for patients receiving personal care only services in the Spring of 2000. A separate Federal Register notice will be published with instructions at that time. In addition, software changes described at the end of this notice are of interest to software vendors and HHAs. Also, a companion notice concerning the OASIS System of Records (SOR) is published elsewhere in this Federal Register and is available via the HCFA Internet site (http://www.hcfa.gov).     

Medicaid program; deadline for submitting moratorium state plan amendments--HCFA. Notice

This notice announces the deadline for Medicaid State agencies to submit State plan amendments requesting moratorium protection under section 2373(c) of the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, as amended by the Medicare and Medicaid Patient and Program Protection Act of 1987. Section 2373(c) initiated a moratorium period during which HCFA cannot take any compliance, disallowance, penalty or other regulatory action against a State agency whose State plan contains an income or resource methodology or standard for determining eligibility for medically needy and certain categorically needy groups that is less restrictive than the required standard or methodology. This notice provides formal notification to States that plan amendments requesting moratorium protection will not be accepted after the last day of the first full calendar quarter following publication of this notice in the Federal Register.     

Health financing research and demonstration grants; availability of funds for grants--HCFA. General notice

This notice announces the availability of HCFA funds for certain priority research and demonstration grants for the Federal fiscal year 1984. It contains information about the subject areas for grants that will be given priority, project requirements, application procedures, amounts and duration of grants, and waiver of State plan requirements for demonstration projects. HCFA makes funds available for activities that will help to resolve major health financing program issues or to develop innovative methods for the administration of Medicare and Medicaid.     

Notification procedures for states implementing "alternative mechanisms" in the individual health insurance market--HCFA. Notice

This notice generally describes the statutory provisions under section 111 of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) that guarantee availability of individual health insurance coverage to certain individuals with prior group coverage. It also provides procedural guidance for States that intend to implement an alternative mechanism under section 111 of HIPAA. Finally, this notice describes the statutory provisions that will apply in a State that does not implement an acceptable alternative mechanism. This notice does not establish new policy or requirements.     

Notice regarding Federally Supported Health Centers Assistance Act of 1992--HRSA. Notice

The Secretary of Health and Human Services (the "Secretary"), in consultation with the Attorney General, provides the following notice regarding Public Law 102-501, the "Federally Supported Health Centers Assistance Act of 1992" (the "Act"). The Act provides for liability protection for certain health care professionals and entities. This notice sets forth information whereby an entity or a person can determine when, and the extent to which, it is deemed to be an entity as described in the Act.     

Protection of human subjects; reports of the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research--Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, HHS. Notice of availability of reports

This notice summarizes the reports of the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, provides information on how these reports may be obtained, and requests public comment on the reports. The following summaries are intended to highlight conclusions and recommendations and do not provide in themselves complete information. It is strongly suggested that interested persons obtain complete copies of reports in order to fully understand the context in which various conclusions and recommendations were made.     

Fiscal year 1993 state home per diem rates for domiciliary, nursing home, and hospital care--DVA. Notice of state home program per diem rates for FY 1993

Public Law 100-322, section 134(a)(2) provides for an increase in per diem rates for domiciliary, nursing home, and hospital care in State Veterans Homes. The VA is giving notice of increases for State home per diem for FY 1993 as follows: Domiciliary care--$11.79, nursing home care--$27.61, and hospital care--$27.61.     

Occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens: request for information--OSHA. Request for information

OSHA requests information and comment on engineering and work practice controls used to eliminate or minimize the risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens due to percutaneous injuries from contaminated needles and o ther contaminated sharps in occupational environments. Percutaneous injuries continue to be a concern in work settings where employees are exposed to bloodborne pathogens. The Agency is considering possible actions that it can undertake to assist in addressing this issue. Consequently, OSHA is interested in strategies for reducing percutaneous injury rates that have been successfully implemented in the work environment, including work practices and, in particular, the use of devices designed to limit the risk of such injuries. The information received in response to this notice will be carefully reviewed and will assist OSHA in determining effective approaches to reducing percutaneous injury rates and what role the Agency may have in these approaches.     

Notice regarding section 602 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 rebate option--HRSA. Notice

Section 602 of Pub. L. 102-585, the "Veterans Health Care Act of 1992", enacted section 340B of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, "Limitation on Prices of Drugs Purchased by Covered Entities." Section 340B provides that a manufacturer who sells covered outpatient drugs to eligible entities must sign a pharmaceutical pricing agreement with the Secretary of HHS in which the manufacturer agrees to charge a price for covered outpatient drugs that will not exceed that amount determined under a statutory formula. The purpose of this notice is to request comments on the proposal of a rebate option for State AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) receiving funds under Title XXVI of the PHS Act.     

Public Health Service--health systems agencies and state health planning and development agencies; certificate of need reviews. Notice regarding certificate of need programs

This Notice sets forth advance information regarding amendments to the regulations governing certificate of need reviews by health systems agencies and State health planning and development agencies. This Notice is intended to provide early guidance to States prior to publication of interim final regulations implementing the amendments to certificate of need provisions of the Public Health Service Act made by the Health Planning and Resources Development Amendments of 1979 (Pub. L 96-79). This early guidance will assist the States in beginning to revise their certificate of need laws. Under the amended provisions of the Public Health Service Act, the planning agencies are required to review and determine the need for proposed capital expenditures, institutional health services and major medical equipment. The Secretary intends to publish these interim final regulations within a few weeks. Following consideration of comments which will be solicited with regard to the interim regulations, the Secretary will publish an analysis of the comments and will revise those regulations as appropriate.     

Approval of the Commission on Office Laboratory Accreditation for Immunohematology--HCFA. Notice

This notice announces the approval of the Commission on Office Laboratory Accreditation (COLA), which is an accrediting organization for clinical laboratories under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) program, for the addition of the full specialty of immunohematology. This approval adds immunohematology to the specialties and subspecialties approved by HCFA in a notice published in the Federal Register on December 23, 1993 (58 FR 68148). We have found that the accreditation process of this organization provides reasonable assurance that the laboratories accredited by it for immunohematology meet the conditions required by Federal law and regulations. Consequently, laboratories that voluntarily become accredited by COLA for the specialty of immunohematology in lieu of receiving direct Federal oversight and continue to meet COLA requirements would meet the CLIA immunohematology condition level requirements for laboratories. These laboratories performing immunohematology testing are not subject to routine inspection by State survey agencies to determine their compliance with applicable Federal requirements. They are, however, subject to validation and complaint investigation surveys.     

澳大利亚基本公共卫生服务的法律保障（三）——立法动向和借鉴意义

通过不断加强公共卫生立法,澳大利亚联邦政府在卫生与老年部下设了国家预防保健局,日益关注公民权利的法律保护,推动示范法律的研究和运用,将风险管理引入立法程序,促进联邦与州/特区的立法协作。中澳两国存在特有的公共卫生关系,澳大利亚在公共卫生法律方面的实践和经验,为我国提供了借鉴意义,特别是法律示范和统一机制、立法过程的风险评估以及基本公共卫生服务的公平性等方面。     

Designation of health services areas and health systems agency application information--HRSA. Notice designating health services areas in Ohio

This notice is issued to announce the establishment of ten health service areas for the State of Ohio and to provide information on the application procedures to become a federally designated and funded health systems agency.     

Notice regarding section 602 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992--rebate option--HRSA. Final notice

Section 602 of Pub. L. 102-585, the "Veterans Health Care Act of 1992", enacted section 340B of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, "Limitation on Prices of Drugs Purchased by Covered Entities." Section 340B provides that a manufacturer who sells covered outpatient drugs to eligible entities must sign a pharmaceutical pricing agreement with the Secretary of HHS in which the manufacturer agrees to charge a price for covered outpatient drugs that will not exceed that amount determined under a statutory formula. The purpose of this notice is to inform interested parties of the final guidelines recognizing a rebate option for State AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) receiving funds under Title XXVI of the PHS Act as an optional alternate means of accessing section 340B discount pricing.