[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 191 (Wednesday, October 4, 2017)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 46181]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-21419]
[[Page 46181]]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
[CMS-3302-WN]
42 CFR Part 416, 418, 482, 483, and 485
Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Revisions to Certain Patient's
Rights Conditions for Participation and Conditions for Coverage;
Withdrawal
AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS.
ACTION: Withdrawal of proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: This document withdraws a proposed rule that was published in
the Federal Register on December 12, 2014. This proposed rule would
revise the applicable conditions of participation for certain
providers, conditions for coverage for certain suppliers, and
requirements for long-term care facilities, to ensure that the
requirements are consistent with the Supreme Court decision in United
States v. Windsor (570 U.S.12, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013)), and HHS policy.
Specifically, it proposed to revise certain definitions and patient's
rights provisions that currently defer to state law, in order to ensure
that same-sex spouses are recognized and afforded equal rights in
certain Medicare and Medicaid-participating facilities.
DATES: As of October 4, 2017, the proposed rule published December 12,
2014, at 79 FR 73873, is withdrawn.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ronisha Blackstone, 410-786-6882.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 12, 2014, we published a
proposed rule in the Federal Register entitled, ``Medicare and Medicaid
Program; Revisions to Certain Patient's Rights Conditions of
Participation and Conditions for Coverage'' (79 FR 73873). In United
States v. Windsor, 570 U.S.12, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013), the Supreme
Court held that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was
unconstitutional because it violated the Fifth Amendment (See Windsor,
133 S. Ct. 2675, 2695). Section 3 of DOMA provided that in determining
the meaning of any Act of the Congress, or of any ruling, regulation,
or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of
the United States, the word ``marriage'' meant only a legal union
between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word
``spouse'' could refer only to a person of the opposite sex who was a
husband or a wife (1 U.S.C. 7). Following the Supreme Court's opinion
in Windsor, the Federal government was permitted to recognize the
validity of same-sex marriages when administering Federal statutes and
programs.
The December 2014 rulemaking proposed to revise certain conditions
of participation (CoPs), conditions for coverage (CfCs), and
requirements for certain Medicare- and Medicaid-participating
facilities to ensure that the requirements at issue were consistent
with the Windsor decision. We received 97 public comments in response
to the December 2014 proposed rule. Following publication of the
proposed rule, on June 26, 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges, (135 S. Ct.
2584 (2015)), the Supreme Court held that the Due Process and Equal
Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to
license a marriage between two people of the same sex, and to recognize
same-sex marriages lawfully performed in other States. In light of the
Obergefell decision, we have decided to withdraw the December 2014
proposed rule. We believe that the Obergefell decision has addressed
many of the concerns raised in the December 2014 proposed rule.
Accordingly, the proposed rule published December 12, 2014, at 79
FR 73873, is withdrawn.
Dated: August 24, 2017.
Seema Verma,
Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Approved: September 7, 2017.
Thomas E. Price,
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2017-21419 Filed 10-3-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P