TRICARE; sub-acute care program; uniform skilled nursing facility benefit; home health care benefit; adopting Medicare payment methods for skilled nursing facilities and home health care providers. Final rule

This rule partially implements the TRICARE "sub-acute and long-term care program reform" enacted by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, specifically: Establishment of "an effective, efficient, and integrated sub-acute care benefits program," with skilled nursing facility (SNF) and home health care benefits modeled after those of the Medicare program; adoption of Medicare payment methods for skilled nursing facility, home health care, and certain other institutional health care providers; adoption of Medicare rules on balance billing of beneficiaries, prohibiting it by institutional providers and limiting it by non-institutional providers; and change in the statutory exclusion of coverage for custodial and domiciliary care.     

Federal employees health benefits program; revision of contract cost principles and procedures, and miscellaneous changes. Final rule

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a final regulation amending the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Acquisition Regulation (FEHBAR). This regulation provides additional contract cost principles and procedures for FEHB Program experience-rated contracts and is intended to clarify our requirements and enhance our oversight of FEHB carriers.     

TRICARE; elimination of non-availability statement and referral authorization requirements and elimination of specialized treatment services program. Final rule

This rule implements Section 735 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (NDAA-02) (Pub. L. 107-107). It also implements Section 728 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (NDAA-01) (Pub. L. 106-398). Section 735 of NDAA-02 eliminates the requirement for TRICARE Standard beneficiaries who live within a 40-mile radius of a military medical treatment facility (MTF) to obtain a nonavailability statement (NAS) or preauthorization from an MTF before receiving inpatient care (other than mental health services) or maternity care from a civilian provider in order that TRICARE will cost-share for such services. Section 735 of NDAA-02, however, authorizes the Department of Defense to make exceptions to the elimination of the requirement for a NAS through the exercise of a waiver process under certain specified conditions. This section also eliminates the NAS requirement for specialized treatment services (STSs) for TRICARE Standard beneficiaries who live outside the 200-mile radius of a designated STS facility. This rule portrays the Department's decision to eliminate the STS program entirely. Finally, Section 728 of NDAA-01 requires that prior authorization before referral to a specialty care provider that is part of the contractor network be eliminated under any new TRICARE contract.     

Fair credit reporting medical information regulations. Final rules

The OCC, Board, FDIC, OTS, and NCUA (Agencies) are publishing final rules to implement section 411 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act). The final rules create exceptions to the statute's general prohibition on creditors obtaining or using medical information pertaining to a consumer in connection with any determination of the consumer's eligibility, or continued eligibility, for credit for all creditors. The exceptions permit creditors to obtain or use medical information in connection with credit eligibility determinations where necessary and appropriate for legitimate purposes, consistent with the Congressional intent to restrict the use of medical information for inappropriate purposes. The final rules also create limited exceptions to permit affiliates to share medical information with each other without becoming consumer reporting agencies. The final rules are substantially similar to the rules adopted by the Agencies on an interim final basis in June 2005.     

The forensic and investigative significance of reverse paternity testing with absent maternal sample

The authors are involved in the extraction of DNA material from calcified tissues, oftentimes teeth, and analysis of such material to assist the investigative process, frequently by confirming the identity of the victim. Biologic or molecular techniques for the purposes of human identification have evolved to allow increasingly discriminating tests for use in criminal and noncriminal death investigations, as well as paternity disputes. The goal of such tests is to either include 2 samples (ie, they are from the same person, or in the case of paternity, they are from related individuals) or exclude 2 samples (ie, they are from different people or from unrelated individuals). Regardless of the system used and when data error has been eliminated, an exclusionary conclusion is irrefutable. The probability of excluding the falsely accused has steadily increased over the years as new methods are developed. Conventional ABO blood typing, for example, has a probability of exclusion (PE) of only 17%. This value increases to 53% with the inclusion of the Rh and MN systems. Additional serological markers can provide a probability of exclusion of greater than 99%. Today, the current method of choice for human identification is the polymerase chain reaction for the amplification of short tandem repeat (STR) multiplexes. This paper discusses the implications of nonpaternity in reverse paternity testing when only paternal DNA is available.     

加强和改进党政干部教育培训的若干思考

党政干部教育培训是我国教育事业的重要组成部分。宁夏党政干部教育培训工作在培训主体、培训客体和管理环节方面都不同程度地存在着问题,需要树立和实践"大教育、大培训"的新理念,建立健全党政干部教育法规、制度和机制,通过整合教育资源、建设教育培训的主渠道等途径来加以解决。     

Sexual and nonsexual offenders with intellectual and learning disabilities: a comparison of characteristics, referral patterns, and outcome

This article reports an evaluation of a community intellectual disability offender service over the period from 1990 to 2001. Men who committed sex offenses or sexually abusive incidents (n = 106) and men who committed other types of offenses and serious incidents (n = 78) are compared on personal characteristics, referral sources, forensic details, and outcome up to 7 years after referral. The cohorts are older than one would expect from the criminology literature, and, at about 33%, the incidence of mental illness is consistent with some previous studies. A greater proportion of sex offenders had criminal justice involvement and a formal disposal from court. Fire raising was not overly represented as an offense. There was a higher rate of reoffending in the nonsexual cohort, which persisted up to 7 years. Investigating only reoffenders, there was a considerable amount of harm reduction recorded up to 7 years, statistically significant up to 5 years following initial referral.