[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 72 (Monday, April 15, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18205-18206]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-9092]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Notice of Meetings: Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetic 
Testing

    Pursuant to Public Law 92-463, notice is hereby given of two 
meetings of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing 
(SACGT), U.S. Public Health Service. An education conference, Genetic 
Testing and Public Policy: Preparing Health Professionals, will be held 
from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 13, 2002. SACGT's thirteenth meeting 
will be held from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 14, 2002 and 8 a.m. to 
2:30 p.m. on May 15, 2002. Both meetings will be held at the Hyatt 
Regency, 300 Light Street, Baltimore, MD and are free and open to the 
public with attendance limited to space available. Pre-registration is 
encouraged for the May 13 education conference. Online registration for 
the May 13 conference is available at http://www4.od.nih.gov/oba/sacgt.htm or by calling Abbe Smith at 301-897-7423. A catered luncheon 
is offered on May 13 at a cost of $30 and requires advance 
registration.
    The one-day education conference will consider the challenges of 
integrating genetic testing into clinical and public health practice 
for the wide range of health professionals likely to be affected by 
this expanding field.

[[Page 18206]]

Through a combination of plenary presentations and panel discussions, 
the conference will explore the integration of genetics into primary 
care and discuss the various roles of healthcare providers in the 
provision of genetics services. Afternoon focus groups will concentrate 
on several different areas of genetics education, training, and 
integration. Conference participants will be asked to consider a number 
of public policy questions of interest to SACGT, including how are 
health professions schools responding to changes and challenges brought 
about by genetics and genetic testing; are future health professionals 
being taught what they need to know to integrate new health 
technologies and services into the clinical and public health settings; 
are current health professionals, who were trained long long before the 
explosion of genetics knowledge, receiving the training they need to 
continue to practice effectively; are they being taught about the 
proper use and interpretation of genetic tests and about their ethical, 
legal, and social implications; are the revolutionary advances in 
genetics having an equally revolutionary effect on our educational 
methods; what changes are already underway; are they sufficient; are 
they occurring quickly enough; is government doing as much as it should 
do? On the following day during its regular Committee meeting, SACGT 
will consider these issues and develop its recommendations to the 
Secretary.
    Reviewing the outcomes of the SACGT Education Conference will be 
the Committee's first order of business at its May 14-15 meeting. In 
addition, four of the SACGT work groups will be presenting reports to 
the Committee: The ACCESS Work Group will present a draft report on 
billing and reimbursement for genetic education and counseling 
services; the Informed Consent/Institutional Review Board Work Group 
will present its revised recommendations on decision making and 
informed consent for clinical and public health genetic tests; the Data 
Work Group will present three case studies on the development and 
clinical application of a genetic test; and the Rate Disease Work Group 
will present a report on genetic testing for rare diseases. 
Presentations will also be made on the development of a ``Frequently 
Asked Questions'' document on Clinical Laboratory Improvement 
Amendments certification and the Food and Drug Administration's 
progress in the development in the development of a pre-market review 
of genetic tests. Time will be provided for public comment and 
interested individuals should notify the contact person listed below.
    Under authority of 42 U.S.C. 217a, Section 222 of the Public Health 
Service Act, as amended, the Department of Health and Human Services 
established SACGT to advise and make recommendations to the Secretary 
through the Assistant Secretary for Health on all aspects of the 
development and use of genetic tests. SACGT is directed to (1) 
recommend policies and procedures for the safe and effective 
incorporation of genetic technologies into health care; (2) assess the 
effectiveness of existing and future measures for oversight of genetic 
tests; and (3) identify research needs related to the Committee's 
purview.
    The draft meeting agenda and other information about SACGT will be 
available at the following Web site: http://www4.od.nih.gov/oba/sacgt/htm. Individuals who wish to provide public comment or who plan to 
attend the meeting and need special assistance, such as sign language 
interpretation or other reasonable accommodations, should notify the 
SACGT Executive Secretary, Ms. Sarah Carr, by telephone at 301-496-9838 
or e-mail at [email protected]. The SACGT office is located at 6705 
Rockledge Drive, Suite 750, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.

    Dated: April 5, 2002.
Sarah Carr,
Executive Secretary, Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing.
[FR Doc. 02-9092 Filed 4-12-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-M