[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 145 (Friday, July 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39180-39181]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-18834]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Program; Notice of Upcoming 
Deadline

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice; announcement of November 13, 2001, deadline for filing 
new petitions under the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Program.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the November 13, 2001, deadline for the 
filing of new petitions under the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund 
Program. This Program implements the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund 
Act of 1998 (the Act), Pub. Law 105-369. The Act provides for 
compassionate payments to certain individuals with blood-clotting 
disorders, such as hemophilia, who were treated with antihemophilic 
factor within a specified time period and contracted human 
immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as to certain persons who 
contracted HIV from these individuals. In the event individuals 
eligible for payment are deceased, the Act also provides for payments 
to certain survivors of these individuals.
    The November 13, 2001, deadline is governed by section 105 of the 
Act, which states that the Secretary may not pay a petition unless it 
is filed within 3 years after the date of enactment of the Act, 
November 12, 1998.

ADDRESSES: All petitions must be submitted to the Ricky Ray Program 
Office, Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services 
Administration, Room 8A-54, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, 
Rockville, Maryland 20857.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul T. Clark, Program Director, 
Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services 
Administration, (301) 443-2330.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As stated in the Interim final rule for the 
Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Program (65 FR 34860), the statute was 
enacted on November 12, 1998; thus, the statutory filing deadline is 
November 11, 2001. However, since that date falls on a Sunday and is 
the Veteran's Day holiday, and since November 12, 2001, is the day on 
which the Veteran's Day holiday is observed by the Federal Government, 
the deadline for filing a new petition is Tuesday, November 13, 2001. 
Any new petition postmarked after November 13, 2001, will not be 
accepted for review, and will be returned to the petitioner as 
ineligible for payment.
    This deadline applies to petitions that have not yet been filed, as 
well as to petitions that have been submitted previously, but denied 
payment. In the latter case, the petitioner may file a new petition and 
submit documentation that was not included in the original petition. 
The deadline for filing this new petition is also November 13, 2001.

Determination of Postmark Date

    To be eligible for review, a petition must be postmarked by a 
postal service meter by the deadline date. A legibly dated receipt from 
a commercial carrier or from the U.S. Postal Service accompanying the 
petition will be accepted in lieu of a postmark. Petitions that are 
postmarked by a private meter

[[Page 39181]]

will not be accepted. To assure fairness to all petitioners regardless 
of their location, no hand-delivered petitions will be accepted.
    If a petitioner uses a commercial carrier, the postmark date is the 
date affixed by the company when the petitioner deposits the petition 
package with the carrier. If the petitioner uses a courier service, the 
postmark date is the date the petitioner gives control of the package 
to the courier service.

Notice of Intent Does Not Satisfy Filing Deadline

    In the Federal Register of March 24, 1999 (64 FR 14251), in which 
the procedures for filing a Notice of Intent to file a petition were 
described, it was stated that a Notice of Intent would satisfy the 
statutory filing deadline. However, as noted in the Interim final rule 
for the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Program, the Notice of Intent 
was to preserve the right to file in the event that sufficient funds 
were not appropriated in time to allow for a reasonable process for 
filing petitions within the statutory deadline. Since there is 
sufficient funding, the Program has established procedures to comply 
with the statutory deadline. Therefore, even if a petitioner filed a 
timely Notice of Intent, the petitioner still must file the petition by 
the November 13, 2001, deadline to establish eligibility for review. 
For individuals who filed a Notice of Intent, their place in queue for 
processing and payment will be determined by the date of submission of 
their petition, and will not be related to the date they filed their 
Notices of Intent or to the case numbers assigned to those Notices.

Deadline for Amended Petitions

    When a person with HIV has filed a petition by the deadline of 
November 13, 2001, but dies before payment is made, an eligible 
survivor must file an amendment to the original petition in order to 
retain its assigned order number. When a survivor of a person with HIV 
has filed a petition or an amendment to a petition by the deadline of 
November 13, 2001, but dies before payment is made, the next-in-line 
eligible survivor must file an amendment. In addition, when multiple 
survivors file a petition by the deadline of November 13, 2001, and one 
of the survivors dies before payment is made, the other survivors must 
file an amendment.
    As noted, an amendment to a petition must be filed in order to 
retain the assigned order number of the original petition and to 
receive payment. Under Sec. 130.31(g)(3) of the Ricky Ray Program 
regulations, the deadline for filing an amended petition is the date of 
the Secretary's determination of eligibility or the date of payment, 
whichever is later. In other words, if the original petition is 
disapproved for payment, the deadline for filing an amended petition is 
the date that the petition was disapproved. Where the original petition 
is approved for payment, the deadline for filing an amended petition is 
before payment is made. No payments will be made after November 12, 
2003 (the date on which the Program's authority ends).

Reconsideration of Petitions Disapproved for Payment

    In accordance with Sec. 130.40(a) of the Ricky Ray Program 
regulations, when a petition has been disapproved for payment, the 
petitioner has the right to request reconsideration of the denial. The 
petitioner has 60 days from the date of disapproval in which to file 
this request. If the Program's original determination to disapprove 
payment is affirmed upon reconsideration, and the petitioner has 
additional documentation to establish eligibility that was not 
submitted with the original petition, the petitioner has a right to 
file a new petition by November 13, 2001.
    If a petition is disapproved for payment after November 13, 2001, 
the petitioner still retains the right to reconsideration and to have 
60 days in which to file this request.

    Dated: July 20, 2001.
Elizabeth M. Duke,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 01-18834 Filed 7-26-01; 8:45 am]
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