Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 40 / Tuesday, March 1, 2011 / Notices 11283 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Office of the Secretary 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission for OMB 

Review; Comment Request; Affordable 

Care Act Internal Claims and Appeals 

and External Review Procedures for 

Non-Grandfathered Plans 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor 

(DOL) is submitting the Employee 

Benefits Security Administration 

(EBSA) sponsored information 

collection request (ICR) titled, 

‘‘Affordable Care Act Internal Claims 

and Appeals and External Review 

Procedures for Non-grandfathered 

Plans,’’ to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for review and approval 

for continued use in accordance with 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(Pub. L. 104–13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35). 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

March 31, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: A copy of this ICR, with 

applicable supporting documentation, 

including a description of the likely 

respondents, proposed frequency of 

response, and estimated total burden 

may be obtained from the RegInfo.gov 

Web site, http://www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain, on the day 

following publication of this notice or 

by contacting Michel Smyth by 

telephone at 202–693–4129 (this is not 

a toll-free number) or sending an e-mail 

to DOL_PRA_PUBLIC@dol.gov. 

Submit comments about this request 

to the Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk 

Officer for the U.S. Department of Labor, 

Employee Benefits Security 

Administration (EBSA), Office of 

Management and Budget, Room 10235, 

Washington, DC 20503, Telephone: 

202–395–6929/Fax: 202–395–6881 

(these are not toll-free numbers), e-mail: 

OIRA_submission@omb.eop.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michel Smyth by telephone at 202–693– 

4129 (this is not a toll-free number) or 

by e-mail at 

DOL_PRA_PUBLIC@dol.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Affordable Care Act added Public 

Health Service Act section 2719, which 

provides rules relating to internal claims 

and appeals and external review 

processes. On July 23, 2010, the EBSA 

issued interim final regulations to 

implement the statutory provision. See 

75 FR 43330. With respect to internal 

claims and appeals processes for group 

health coverage, group health plans and 

health insurance issuers offering group 

health insurance coverage must comply 

with the internal claims and appeals 

processes set forth in 29 CFR 2560.503– 

1 (the DOL claims procedure regulation) 

and update such processes in 

accordance with standards established 

by the Secretary of Labor. Group health 

plans and issuers offering group health 

insurance coverage must comply with 

either a State external review process or 

a Federal review process. The 

regulations provide a basis for 

determining when plans and issuers 

must comply with an applicable State 

external review process and when they 

must comply with the Federal external 

review process. 

The claims procedure regulation 

imposes information collections, as part 

of the reasonable procedures that an 

employee benefit plan must establish 

regarding the handling of a benefit 

claim. These information collections 

include third-party notice and 

disclosure requirements that the plan 

must satisfy by providing information to 

participants and beneficiaries of the 

plan; consequently, the collections are 

subject to the PRA. A Federal agency 

generally cannot conduct or sponsor a 

collection of information, and the public 

is generally not required to respond to 

an information collection, unless it is 

approved by the OMB under the PRA 

and displays a currently valid OMB 

Control Number. In addition, 

notwithstanding any other provisions of 

law, no person shall generally be subject 

to penalty for failing to comply with a 

collection of information if the 

collection of information does not 

display a valid OMB Control Number. 

See 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6. The 

DOL obtains OMB approval for these 

information collections under OMB 

Control Number 1210–0144. The current 

OMB approval is scheduled to expire on 

February 28, 2011; however, it should 

be noted that information collections 

submitted to the OMB receive a monthto-month extension while they undergo 

review. For additional information, see 

the related notice published in the 

Federal Register on December 10, 2010. 

Interested parties are encouraged to 

send comments to the OMB, Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs at 

the address shown in the ADDRESSES

section within 30 days of publication of 

this notice in the Federal Register. In 

order to ensure appropriate 

consideration, comments should 

reference OMB Control Number 1210– 

0144. The OMB is particularly 

interested in comments that: 

• Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

• Evaluate the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; 

• Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

• Minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

e.g., permitting electronic submission of 

responses. 

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration (EBSA). 

Title of Collection: Affordable Care 

Act Internal Claims and Appeals and 

External Review Procedures for Nongrandfathered Plans. 

OMB Control Number: 1210–0144. 

Affected Public: Private sector— 

Businesses and other for-profits and 

Not-for-profit institutions. 

Total Estimated Number of 

Responses: 94,483. 

Total Estimated Annual Burden 

Hours: 631. 

Total Estimated Annual Costs Burden: 

$250,328. 

Dated: February 22, 2011. 

Michel Smyth, 

Departmental Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2011–4410 Filed 2–28–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–29–P 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Office of the Secretary 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission for OMB 

Review; Comment Request; 

Certification of Funeral Expenses 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor 

(DOL) is submitting the Office of 

Workers’ Compensation Programs 

(OWCP) sponsored information 

collection request (ICR) titled, 

‘‘Certification of Funeral Expenses,’’ to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for review and approval for 

continued use in accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. 

L. 104–13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35). 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

March 31, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: A copy of this ICR, with 

applicable supporting documentation; 


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