Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 21 (Thursday, January 31, 2019)

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 21 (Thursday, January 31, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 539-571]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-28354]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

42 CFR Part 414

[CMS-1693-CN]
RIN 0938-AT31


Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies Under the 
Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2019; 
Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements; Quality Payment Program; 
Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program; Quality Payment Program--
Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstance Policy for the 2019 MIPS 
Payment Year; Provisions From the Medicare Shared Savings Program--
Accountable Care Organizations Pathways to Success; and Expanding the 
Use of Telehealth Services for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder 
Under the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention That Promotes Opioid 
Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act; 
Correction

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS.

ACTION: Correction of final rule.

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SUMMARY: This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the 
final rule published in the Federal Register on November 23, 2018 
entitled ``Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies under the 
Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2019; 
Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements; Quality Payment Program; 
Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program; Quality Payment Program--
Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstance Policy for the 2019 MIPS 
Payment Year; provisions from the Medicare Shared Savings Program--
Accountable Care Organizations Pathways to Success; and Expanding the 
Use of Telehealth Services for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder 
under the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid 
Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act.''

DATES: This correcting document is effective January 31, 2019, and is 
applicable beginning January 1, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Benjamin Chin, (410) 786-0679, Alesia 
Hovatter (410) 786-6861 or Molly MacHarris, (410) 786-4461.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    In FR Doc. 2018-24170 of November 23, 2018 (83 FR 59452 through 
60303), there were a number of technical errors that are identified and 
corrected in the Correction of Errors section below. These corrections 
are effective January 1, 2019.

II. Summary of Errors

A. Summary of Errors in the Regulation Text

    On page 60090, in regulation text regarding Sec.  414.1415, we made 
a typographical error in identifying the year in the effective date.

B. Summary of Errors in the Appendix

    On page 60151, we inadvertently omitted Table B.6. Internal 
Medicine (Removal Table), Table B.7. Emergency Medicine, Table B.8. 
Obstetrics/Gynecology, Table B.9. Ophthalmology, Table B.10. Orthopedic 
Surgery, Table B.11. Otolaryngology, Table B.12. Pathology, and Table 
B.13 Pediatrics.

III. Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking

    Under 5 U.S.C. 553(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act (the 
APA), the agency is required to publish a notice of the proposed rule 
in the Federal Register before the provisions of a rule take effect. 
Similarly, section 1871(b)(1) of the Social Security Act (the Act) 
requires the Secretary to provide for notice of the proposed rule in 
the Federal Register and provide a period of not less than 60 days for 
public comment. In addition, section 553(d) of the APA and section 
1871(e)(1)(B)(i) of the Act mandate a 30-day delay in effective date 
after issuance or publication of a rule. Sections 553(b)(B) and 
553(d)(3) of the APA provide for exceptions from the APA notice and 
comment, and delay in effective date requirements; in cases in which 
these exceptions apply, sections 1871(b)(2)(C) and 1871(e)(1)(B)(ii) of 
the Act provide exceptions from the notice and 60-day comment period 
and delay in effective date requirements of the Act as well. Section 
553(b)(B) of the APA and section 1871(b)(2)(C) of the Act authorize an 
agency to dispense with normal notice and comment rulemaking procedures 
for good cause if the agency makes a finding that the notice and 
comment process is impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the 
public interest, and includes a statement of the finding and the 
reasons for it in the rule. In addition, section 553(d)(3) of the APA 
and section 1871(e)(1)(B)(ii) allow the agency to avoid the 30-day 
delay in effective date where such delay is contrary to the public 
interest and the

[[Page 540]]

agency includes in the rule a statement of the finding and the reasons 
for it. In our view, this correcting document does not constitute a 
rulemaking that would be subject to these requirements.
    This document merely corrects technical errors in the CY 2019 PFS 
final rule. The corrections contained in this document are consistent 
with, and do not make substantive changes to, the policies and payment 
methodologies that were proposed, subject to notice and comment 
procedures, and adopted in the CY 2019 PFS final rule. As a result, the 
corrections made through this correcting document are intended to 
resolve inadvertent errors so that the rule accurately reflects the 
policies adopted in the final rule. Even if this were a rulemaking to 
which the notice and comment and delayed effective date requirements 
applied, we find that there is good cause to waive such requirements. 
Undertaking further notice and comment procedures to incorporate the 
corrections in this document into the CY 2019 PFS final rule or 
delaying the effective date of the corrections would be contrary to the 
public interest because it is in the public interest to ensure that the 
rule accurately reflects our policies as of the date they take effect. 
Further, such procedures would be unnecessary because we are not making 
any substantive revisions to the final rule, but rather, we are simply 
correcting the Federal Register document to reflect the policies that 
we previously proposed, received public comment on, and subsequently 
finalized in the final rule. For these reasons, we believe there is 
good cause to waive the requirements for notice and comment and delay 
in effective date.

IV. Correction of Errors

    In FR Doc. 2018-24170 of November 23, 2018 (83 FR 59452 through 
60303), make the following corrections:


Sec.  414.1415   [Corrected]

0
1. On page 60090, in the second column; in amendatory instruction 41, 
in line 2, the parenthetical ``(effective January 1, 2010)'' is 
corrected to read ``(effective January 1, 2020)''.

0
2. On page 60151, Table B.6. Internal Medicine (Removal Table), Table 
B.7. Emergency Medicine, Table B.8. Obstetrics/Gynecology, Table B.9. 
Ophthalmology, Table B.10. Orthopedic Surgery, Table B.11. 
Otolaryngology, Table B.12. Pathology, and Table B.13 Pediatrics should 
be added in their entirety.
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    Dated: December 20, 2018.
Ann C. Agnew,
Executive Secretary to the Department, Department of Health and Human 
Services.
 [FR Doc. 2018-28354 Filed 1-30-19; 8:45 am]
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