[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 106 (Friday, June 2, 2006)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 31942-31943]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-5043]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

[DOD-2006-HA-0089]

32 CFR Part 199

RIN 0720-AA93


Office of the Secretary; TRICARE; Changes Included in the 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005; TRICARE Dental 
Program

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DoD.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Department is publishing this final rule to implement 
sections 711 and 715 of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (NDAA for FY05), Public Law 108-
375. Specifically, that legislation makes young dependents of deceased 
Service members eligible for enrollment in the TRICARE Dental program 
when the child was not previously enrolled because of age, and 
authorizes post-graduate dental residents in a dental treatment 
facility of the uniformed services under a graduate dental education 
program accredited by the American Dental Association to provide dental 
treatment to dependents who are 12 years of age or younger and who are 
covered by a dental plan established under 10 U.S.C. 1076a. This adopts 
the interim rule published on September 21, 2005 (70 FR 55251).

DATES: Effective Date: June 2, 2006.

ADDRESSES: TRICARE Management Activity, TRICARE Operations/Dental 
Division, Skyline 5, Suite 810, 5111 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 
22041-3206.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Col. Gary C. Martin, Office of the 
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs), TRICARE Management 
Activity, telephone (703) 681-0039. Questions regarding payment of 
specific claims should be addressed to the appropriate TRICARE 
contractor.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Overview of the Rule

Opportunity for Young Child Dependent of Deceased Member To Become 
Eligible for Enrollment in a TRICARE Dental Plan
    Currently, military members may enroll dependent children of any 
age in the TRICARE Dental Program (TDP), but many members choose not to 
enroll young children until they are automatically enrolled at four 
years of age. Unfortunately, when a member on active duty for a period 
of more than thirty days or a member of the Ready Reserve (i.e., 
Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve) dies, dependent children 
less than four years of age who are not enrolled in the TDP at the time 
of the member's death are ineligible for enrollment for the three-year 
TDP survivor's benefit. The NDAA for FY05 corrects this inequity by 
giving young dependent children of deceased Service members the 
opportunity to become eligible for enrollment in the TDP although they 
were not previously enrolled due to their age.
Professional Accreditation of Military Dentists
    Currently, Sec.  199.13(a)(2)(iii) of this part excludes dependents 
of active duty, Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve members 
enrolled in the TRICARE Dental Program (TDP) from obtaining benefit 
services provided by the TDP in military dental care facilities except 
for emergency treatment, dental care provided outside the United 
States, and services incidental to non-covered services. Due to 
insufficient numbers of pediatric patients available for treatment in 
DoD's training facilities, the uniformed services faced significant 
problems with program accreditation and pediatric dental training. The 
Services had difficulty maintaining accreditation of post-graduate 
training programs because of a lack of pediatric dental patients with 
the proper dental case mix required for training. In addition, without 
adequate case numbers and case complexity, residents who at completion 
of their training were assigned overseas were not always fully trained 
to manage and treat pediatric dental patients.
    Section 715 of the NDAA for FY05 provides the uniformed services 
with authority to maintain American Dental Association accreditation 
standards for certain military dental specialty training programs that 
require treatment of pediatric patients and to provide pediatric 
training to meet requirements for the delivery of authorized dental 
care to children accompanying sponsors at OCONUS locations. The statute

[[Page 31943]]

authorizes the Services to treat in their facilities a limited number 
of pediatric dental patients enrolled in the TDP. The Services have 
estimated their pediatric patient load requirements to sustain training 
facilities at 500-600 patients annually per Service. Only those 
patients age 12 years or younger meeting training needs and accepted 
for care in DoD's training programs will be treated in those programs 
to the maximum of 2,000 patients annually across DoD. To ensure strict 
compliance with the amended statute, Health Affairs will allocate 
specific numbers of patient training cases to each Service Point of 
Contact (POC). Service POCs will implement registries to track the 
number of patients served on a daily basis to ensure that the 
respective patient case caps are not exceeded. Each service will 
forward a semi-annual report to the Dental Care Division, TRICARE 
Management Activity. An annual report will be submitted at the end of 
each fiscal year to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health 
Affairs.

II. Review of Public Comments

    The Interim Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on 
September 21, 2005 (70 FR 55251). We received no public comments.

III. Regulatory Procedures

    Executive Order 12866 requires that a comprehensive regulatory 
impact analysis be performed on any economically significant regulatory 
action, defined as one that would result in an annual effect of $100 
million or more on the national economy or which would have other 
substantial impacts. The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) requires that 
each Federal agency prepare, and make available for public comment, a 
regulatory flexibility analysis when the agency issues a regulation 
which would have a significant impact on a substantial number of small 
entities. This rule is not an economically significant regulatory 
action and will not have a significant impact on a substantial number 
of small entities for purposes of the RFA, thus this final rule is not 
subject to any of these requirements. This rule, although not 
economically significant under Executive Order 12866, is a significant 
rule under Executive Order 12866 and has been reviewed by the Office of 
Management and Budget.
    We have examined the impact of the proposed rule under Executive 
Order 13132 and it does not have policies that have federalism 
implications that would have substantial direct effect on the States, 
on the relationship between the national government and the States, or 
on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various 
levels of government, therefore, consultation with State and local 
officials is not required.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This rule will not impose additional information collection 
requirements on the public under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(44 U.S.C. 3501-3511).

List of Subjects in 32 CFR Part 199

    Claims, Dental program, Dental health, Health care, Health 
insurance, Military personnel.

PART 199--[AMENDED]

0
Accordingly, the interim rule amending 32 CFR part 199 which was 
published on September 21, 2005 (70 FR 55251), is adopted as a final 
rule without change.

    Dated: May 26, 2006.
L.M. Bynum,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 06-5043 Filed 6-1-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-06-M