Revision of income criteria for eligibility for uncompensated services--HRSA. Notice

This notice announces the applicability of the recent revision of the Poverty Income Guidelines to uncompensated services programs administered by health care facilities pursuant to Titles VI and XVI of the Public Health Service Act.     

Revision of income criteria for eligibility for uncompensated services--Health Resources and Services Administration. Rule-related notice

This notice announces the applicability of the recent revision of the poverty income guidelines to uncompensated services programs administered by health care facilities pursuant to Titles VI and XVI of the Public Health Service Act.     

Health Resources Administration--Hill-Burton "uncompensated services" assurance; priorities for handling complaints. Notice

This notice announces the establishment of priorities for handling complaints of noncompliance by assisted medical facilities with their "uncompensated services" assurances under Titles VI and XVI of the Public Health Service Act. The priorities will determine the allocation of the Department's investigative and decision-making resources to certain complaints where the resources available are insufficient to handle all complaints.     

Annual update of the HHS poverty income guidelines--HHS. Notice

This notice provides an update of the HHS poverty income guidelines to account for last (calendar) year's increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index.     

Establishment of criteria for determining priorities among designated health professional shortage areas--HRA. Notice

In accordance with the requirement of section 333A(c) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended by Public Law 101-597 (the National Health Service Corps Revitalization Amendments of 1990), this Notice establishes the criteria which the Secretary will use to make determinations under section 333A(a)(1)(A) of the health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) with the greatest shortages, using the exclusive factors specified in section 333A(b).     

Medicaid program; eligibility and coverage requirements--HCFA. Notice of delay of effective dates and compliance dates

This document delays by an additional 6 months the effective dates of the final rule with comment period on Medicaid Eligibility and Coverage Requirements published January 19, 1993, in the Federal Register (58 FR 4908). It also extends the compliance dates for this rule in light of the delay in the effective dates. This delay will give the administration additional time necessary to fully review the policies in these regulations.     

Medicaid program; eligibility and coverage requirements--HCFA. Notice of delay of effective dates and compliance dates

This notice delays by an additional 6 months the effective dates of the final rule with comment period on Medicaid Eligibility and Coverage Requirements published January 19, 1993, in the Federal Register (58 FR 4908). It also extends the compliance dates for this rule in light of the delay in the effective dates.     

Medicaid program; eligibility and coverage requirements--HCFA. Notice of delay of effective dates and compliance dates

This notice delays by 6 months the effective dates and compliance dates of the final rule with comment period on Medicaid Eligibility and Coverage Requirements published January 19, 1993 in the Federal Register (58 FR 4908).     

Medicare program; criteria for Medicare coverage of lung transplants--HCFA. Notice with comment period

This notice announces a Medicare national coverage decision for lung and heart-lung transplantations. Lung transplantation refers to the transplantation of one or both lungs from a single cadaver donor. Heart-lung transplantation refers to the transplantation of one or both lungs and the heart from a single cadaver donor. We have determined that, under certain circumstances, lung transplants and heart-lung transplants are a medically reasonable and necessary service when furnished to patients with progressive end-stage pulmonary or cardiopulmonary disease and when furnished by Medicare participating facilities that meet specific criteria, including patient selection criteria. DATES: This notice is effective February 2, 1995. For information on how this notice effects Medicare payment for lung and heart-lung transplants, see sections E and F of this notice.     

Health Resources and Services Administration. Final eligibility criteria, preferences, and priorities for scholarships for disadvantaged students

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announces final eligibility criteria, preferences, and priorities for the Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) program, under the authority of section 737 of the Public Health Service Act (the Act), Title VII, Part B, as amended by the Health Professions Education Partnerships Act of 1998. Pub. L. 105-392, dated November 13, 1998. A notice which proposed eligibility criteria, preferences, and priorities for the SDS program was published in the Federal Register at 64 FR 29660, dated June 2, 1999. A period of 30 days was established to allow public comment concerning the proposed eligibility criteria, preferences, and priorities. Five comments were received. This notice discusses these comments and sets forth the final eligibility criteria, preferences, and priorities.     

Verification of eligibility for public benefits--INS. Proposed rule

This rule amends the Immigration and Naturalization Service ("Service") regulations by establishing a new part requiring certain entities that provide Federal public benefits (with certain exceptions) to verify, by examining alien applicants' evidence of alien registration and by using a Service automated verification system that the applicants are eligible for the benefits under welfare reform legislation. The rule also sets forth procedures by which a State or local government can verify whether an alien applying for a State or local public benefit is a qualified alien, a nonimmigrant, or an alien paroled into the United States for less than 1 year, for purposes of determining whether the alien is eligible for the benefit. In addition, the rule establishes procedures for verifying the U.S. nationality of individuals applying for benefits in a fair and nondiscriminatory manner.     

Medicaid; eligibility of aliens for Medicaid--HCFA. Technical amendments

This document makes technical corrections to final regulations regarding eligibility of aliens for Medicaid published on September 7, 1990, at 55 FR 36813.     

Modernizing Medicaid eligibility criteria for children with significant disabilities: moving from a disabling to an enabling paradigm

Children with significant disabilities may qualify for Medicaid benefits, regardless of household income, if their state elects to offer the Tax Equity Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) option. However, a significant number of children with serious medical problems presently are being denied eligibility for, or terminated from, this Medicaid program. This Article describes the ways in which the existing health insurance system inadequately meets the needs of children with significant disabilities, recounts the history and development of the TEFRA Medicaid coverage option, and analyzes the eligibility criteria used by the various states. It proceeds to consider how disability should be legally defined in the health care context and proposes reforms to modernize the eligibility standards so that these benefits can be more effectively, efficiently, and fairly allocated. To accomplish this goal, the federal statute and regulation that define disability, as well as corresponding state laws, must be reformed so that the law can keep pace with advances in modern medical science, and people with disabilities are not, in effect, penalized for receiving currently accepted preventative care that maintains health but will never cure the underlying disease.     

Medicaid program; eligibility of aliens for Medicaid--HCFA. Final rule

This regulation revises current Medicaid rules applicable to aliens who meet eligibility requirements as categorically needy or medically needy. It establishes that aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence or permanently residing in the United States under color of law may be eligible for all Medicaid services. It clarifies and identifies certain categories of persons permanently residing in the United States under color of law. It also identifies those aliens who may be eligible only for limited services as a result of recent legislation. These revisions conform our regulations to changes made by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-509), and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-603), and the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-360).     

Medicare program: revised criteria for defining a skilled nursing facility when determining spell of illness status--HCFA. Notice of HCFA ruling

This notice announces a HCFA Ruling that establishes revised criteria for defining a skilled nursing facility under section 1861(j)(1) of the Social Security Act when determing a beneficiary's spell of illness status.     

Social Security benefits and supplemental security income; disability termination hearings at the reconsideration level--SSA. Notice of proposed rulemaking

We are proposing regulatory changes to carry out a requirement of Pub. L. 97-455 (enacted on January 12, 1983). That legislation requires several changes in the procedures used by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to conduct periodic reviews of disability cases for continuing eligibility. The proposed regulations would implement Sections 4 and 5 of the new law, which require SSA to make a face-to-face evidentiary hearing available in connection with the reconsideration of any initial determination that an individual receiving disability benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (the Act) is not now disabled. We also propose to make the new reconsideration procedure available in blindness and disability termination cases in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program under title XVI of the Act, pursuant to the Secretary's broad rulemaking authority in the SSI program. Although Congress has not specifically required that we do so, it is customary to extend legislative improvements in the title II disability program to comparable SSI cases, since the medical eligibility requirements in both programs are quite similar. Moreover, the proposed inclusion of SSI blindness and disability termination cases would promote effective program administration by providing a uniform appeal procedure in the two programs. We believe that this new procedure will make the reconsideration level more meaningful in blindness and disability termination cases, that beneficiaries affected by these termination decisions will be better served and that the overall quality of the decisionmaking process will also be improved.     

International Conference on Harmonisation; draft guidance on specifications: test procedures and acceptance criteria for biotechnological/biological products--FDA. Notice

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is publishing a draft guidance entitled "Q6B Specifications: Test Procedures and Acceptance Criteria for Biotechnological/Biological Products". The draft guidance was prepared under the auspices of the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The draft guidance provides guidance on general principles for the selection of test procedures and the setting and justification of acceptance criteria for biotechnological and biological products. The draft guidance is intended to assist in the establishment of a uniform set of international specifications for biotechnological and biological products to support new marketing applications.