[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 41 (Thursday, March 2, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 13033-13034]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-04144]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 17

RIN 2900-AP57, AQ47, AQ63


Program for the Repayment of Educational Loans, Urgent Care, and 
Specialty Education Loan Repayment Program

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Correcting amendment.

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SUMMARY: This final rule will revise the Department of Veterans Affairs 
(VA) regulations that govern the Program for the Repayment of 
Educational Loans (PREL) and Specialty Education Loan Repayment Program 
(SELRP) by adding the Office of Management and Budget approval number 
for the associated collections of information. VA is also making 
technical corrections to its regulation that governs VA's urgent care 
benefit.

DATES: Section 17.644 of title 38, published at 81 FR 66815 on 
September 29, 2016, is effective March 2, 2023. This final rule is 
effective March 2, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ethan Kalett, Office of Regulations, 
Appeals, and Policy, Veterans Health Administration, Department of 
Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20420, (202) 
461-7633. (This is not a toll free number.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Revisions to Sec. Sec.  17.528 and 17.643 of Title 38, Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR)

    In a final rule published in the Federal Register (FR) on September 
29, 2016, VA added new regulations for the PREL, a program in which VA 
repays educational loans to individuals who pursued a program of study 
leading to a degree in psychiatric medicine and who are seeking 
employment in VA. See 81 FR 66815. In a separate final rule

[[Page 13034]]

published in the FR on July 29, 2020, VA also added to new regulations 
for the SELRP, a program which serves as an incentive for physicians 
starting or currently in residency programs in medical specialties, for 
which VA has determined that recruitment and retention of qualified 
personnel is difficult, to work at VA facilities that need more 
physicians within that medical specialty after the individual completes 
their residency program. See 85 FR 45532.
    Both of those rulemakings contained provisions constituting 
collections of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507). See 38 CFR 17.528 and 17.643. The Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 requires that VA consider the impact of paperwork 
and other information collection burdens imposed on the public. Under 
44 U.S.C. 3507(a), an agency may not collect or sponsor the collection 
of information, nor may it impose an information collection requirement 
unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) control number. See also 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3)(vi). As required by 
44 U.S.C. 3507(d), VA submitted the information collections associated 
with Sec. Sec.  17.528 and 17.643 to OMB for its review. After both 
final rules were published, these information collections were approved 
by OMB and assigned OMB control number 2900-0879. This document revises 
Sec. Sec.  17.528 and 17.643 by adding the approved OMB control number 
at the end of each of those sections.

Revisions to 38 CFR 17.4600

    In a document published in the FR on June 5, 2019, VA amended its 
medical regulations by granting eligible veterans access to urgent care 
from qualifying non-VA entities or providers without prior approval 
from VA. 84 FR 25998. Current paragraphs (c)(1)(i)(A) and (B) of Sec.  
17.4600 were incorrectly numbered as they should have been designated 
as paragraphs (c)(1)(i) and (ii), respectively. We are now revising 
Sec.  17.4600 to correct the numbering of paragraph (c)(1) with no 
substantive changes to the regulation text.

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 17

    Administrative practice and procedure, Claims, Dental health, 
Government contracts, Health care, Health facilities, Health 
professions, Health records, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, 
Scholarships and fellowships, Travel and transportation expenses, 
Veterans.

Consuela Benjamin,
Regulations Development Coordinator, Office of Regulation Policy & 
Management, Office of General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Department of 
Veterans Affairs amends 38 CFR part 17 as follows:

PART 17--MEDICAL

0
1. The authority citation for part 17 continues to read in part as 
follows:

    Authority:  38 U.S.C. 501, and as noted in specific sections.
* * * * *

0
2. Amend Sec.  17.528 by revising the parenthetical information 
collection sentence at the end of the section to read as follows:


Sec.  17.528  Application.

* * * * *
    (The Office of Management and Budget has approved the information 
collection requirement in this section under control number 2900-0879.)

0
3. Amend Sec.  17.643 by adding a parenthetical information collection 
sentence at the end of the section to read as follows:


Sec.  17.643  Application for the PREL.

* * * * *
    (The Office of Management and Budget has approved the information 
collection requirement in this section under control number 2900-
0879.).


Sec.  17.4600  [Amended]

0
4. Amend Sec.  17.4600 by redesignating paragraphs (c)(1)(i)(A) and (B) 
as paragraphs (c)(1)(i) and (ii).

[FR Doc. 2023-04144 Filed 3-1-23; 8:45 am]
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