[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 2, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22731-22732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06905]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service


Notice of Update to the Purchased/Referred Care Delivery Area for 
the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

AGENCY: Indian Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Indian Health Service (IHS) 
has updated the geographic boundaries of the purchased/referred care 
delivery area (PRCDA) for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to 
include the counties of Carroll and Jackson in the State of Mississippi 
and the county of Lauderdale in the State of Tennessee. The PRCDA for 
the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians now comprises the Mississippi 
counties of Attala, Carroll, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Kemper, Leake, 
Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Scott, and Winston, and the Tennessee county 
of Lauderdale. The sole purpose of this expansion is to authorize 
additional Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians members and 
beneficiaries to receive purchased/referred care (PRC) services.

DATES: This update is effective as of April 2, 2024.

ADDRESSES: This notice can be found at https://www.federalregister.gov. 
Written requests for information should be delivered to: CAPT John 
Rael, Director, Office of Resource Access and Partnerships, Indian 
Health Service, 5600 Fishers Lane, Mail Stop 10E85C, Rockville, MD 
20857, or by phone at (301) 443-0969 (this is not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The IHS provides services under regulations 
in effect as of September 15, 1987, and republished at 42 CFR part 136, 
subparts A-C. Subpart C defines a Contract Health Service Delivery Area 
(CHSDA), now referred to as a PRCDA, as the geographic area within 
which PRC will be made available by the IHS to members of an identified 
Indian community who reside in the PRCDA. Residence within a PRCDA by a 
person who is within the scope of the Indian health program, as set 
forth in 42 CFR 136.12, creates no legal entitlement to PRC but only 
potential eligibility for services. Services needed, but not available 
at an IHS/Tribal facility, are provided under the PRC program depending 
on the availability of funds, the relative medical priority of the 
services to be provided, and the actual availability and accessibility 
of alternate resources in accordance with the regulations.
    The regulations at 42 CFR part 136, subpart C provide that, unless 
otherwise designated, a PRCDA shall consist of a county which includes 
all or part of a reservation and any county or counties which have a 
common boundary with the reservation. 42 CFR 136.22(a)(6). Under the 
Act of June 29, 2000, Public Law 106-228 at 1(a)(1), ``all land taken 
in trust by the United States for the benefit of the Mississippi Band 
of Choctaw Indians on or after December 23, 1944, shall be part of the 
Mississippi Choctaw Indian Reservation.'' (114 Stat. 462). A Federal 
Register Notice published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on April 3, 
2007, further provides that ``. . . when additional lands are taken 
into trust by the United States for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw 
Indians . . . each such additional land parcel shall automatically 
become a part of the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Reservation without the 
need for any other formal declaration to that effect. . .''. 72 FR 
15899. In 2012 and 2013, parcels of land in Carroll and Jackson 
Counties, Mississippi and Lauderdale County, Tennessee were taken into 
trust by the United States for the benefit of the MBCI. Once taken into 
trust, these parcels automatically became a part of the MBCI 
reservation. Accordingly, and at the request of the MBCI, the IHS is 
now updating the MBCI's PRCDA to include these three counties.
    There are no other counties which share a common boundary with the 
new reservation lands, nor is the MBCI requesting to include in their 
PRCDA any additional counties which do not hold reservation lands. No 
existing PRCDAs overlap with the MBCI's updated PRCDA. The MBCI 
estimates that updating the Tribe's PRCDA will allow an additional 327 
individuals, including tribal members, persons of Indian descent 
residing on the reservation, and other eligible individuals with close 
social and economic ties to the MBCI to become PRC-eligible. The MBCI 
further estimates that a significant portion of the newly PRC-eligible 
individuals have third-party insurance, which will help

[[Page 22732]]

defray the costs associated with the expanded PRCDA.
    An updated listing of the PRCDAs for all federally recognized 
Tribes may be accessed via a link on the IHS PRCDA Expansion website 
(https://www.ihs.gov/prc/prcda-expansion).
    This notice does not contain reporting or recordkeeping 
requirements subject to prior approval by the Office of Management and 
Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Roselyn Tso,
Director, Indian Health Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-06905 Filed 4-1-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-16-P