81440 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 242 / Wednesday, December 16, 2020 / Proposed Rules 

2Medicare and State Health Care Programs: Fraud 

and Abuse; OIG Anti-Kickback Provisions, 56 FR 

35952, 35958 (July 29, 1991). 

3See e.g., Special Fraud Alert: Speaker Programs 

(Nov. 16, 2020), available at https://oig.hhs.gov/ 

fraud/docs/alertsandbulletins/2020/SpecialFraud

AlertSpeakerPrograms.pdf. 

arrangements.’’ 2 Health care providers 

and others may voluntarily seek to 

comply with the conditions of an 

applicable safe harbor so that they have 

the assurance that their payment or 

business practice will not be subject to 

sanctions under the Federal antikickback statute. The safe harbor 

regulations promulgated by OIG are 

found at 42 CFR part 1001. 

B. OIG Special Fraud Alerts 

OIG periodically issues Special Fraud 

Alerts to give continuing guidance to 

health care industry stakeholders 

regarding practices OIG considers to be 

suspect or of particular concern.3 The 

Special Fraud Alerts encourage industry 

compliance by giving stakeholders 

guidance that can be applied to their 

own practices. OIG Special Fraud Alerts 

are published in the Federal Register 

and on OIG’s website and are intended 

for extensive distribution. 

In developing Special Fraud Alerts, 

OIG relies on a number of sources and 

consults directly with experts in the 

subject field, including those within 

OIG, other agencies of HHS, other 

Federal and State agencies, and those in 

the health care industry. 

C. Section 205 of the Health Insurance 

Portability and Accountability Act of 

1996 

Section 205 of HIPAA, Public Law 

104–191, and section 1128D of the Act 

(42 U.S.C. 1320a–7d), requires the 

Department to develop and publish an 

annual notification in the Federal 

Register formally soliciting proposals 

for developing additional or modifying 

existing safe harbors to the Federal antikickback statute and Special Fraud 

Alerts. 

In developing or modifying safe 

harbors under the Federal anti-kickback 

statute, OIG, in consultation with the 

Department of Justice, thoroughly 

reviews the range of factual 

circumstances that may receive 

protection by the proposed or modified 

safe harbor. In doing so, OIG seeks to 

identify and develop regulatory 

limitations and controls in order to 

permit beneficial and innocuous 

arrangements while, at the same time, 

protecting Federal health care programs 

and their beneficiaries from the harms 

caused by fraud and abuse. 

II. Solicitation of Additional New 

Recommendations and Proposals 

OIG seeks recommendations regarding 

the development of additional or 

modified safe harbor regulations and 

new Special Fraud Alerts. A detailed 

explanation of justifications for, or 

empirical data supporting, a suggestion 

for a new or modified safe harbor or 

Special Fraud Alert would be helpful 

and should, if possible, be included in 

any response to this solicitation. 

A. Criteria for Modifying and 

Establishing Safe Harbor Provisions 

In accordance with section 205 of 

HIPAA, we will consider a number of 

factors in reviewing proposals for 

additional or modified safe harbor 

provisions, such as the extent to which 

the proposals would affect an increase 

or decrease in: 

• Access to health care services, 

• the quality of health care services, 

• patient freedom of choice among 

health care providers, 

• competition among health care 

providers, 

• the cost to Federal health care 

programs, 

• the potential overutilization of 

health care services, and 

• the ability of health care facilities to 

provide services in medically 

underserved areas or to medically 

underserved populations. 

In addition, we will consider other 

factors, including, for example, the 

existence (or nonexistence) of any 

potential financial benefit to health care 

professionals or providers that may 

influence their decision whether to: (1) 

Order a health care item or service or (2) 

arrange for a referral of health care items 

or services to a particular practitioner or 

provider. 

B. Criteria for Developing Special Fraud 

Alerts 

In determining whether to issue 

additional Special Fraud Alerts, we will 

consider whether, and to what extent, 

the practices that would be identified in 

a new Special Fraud Alert may result in 

any of the consequences set forth above, 

as well as the volume and frequency of 

the conduct that would be identified in 

the Special Fraud Alert. 

Dated: November 19, 2020. 

Christi A. Grimm, 

Principal Deputy Inspector General. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26043 Filed 12–15–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4152–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 

Safety Administration 

49 CFR Parts 192 and 195 

[Docket No. PHMSA–2019–0199] 

Pipeline Safety: Midstream Facilities 

Frequently Asked Questions 

AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous 

Materials Safety Administration 

(PHMSA); DOT. 

ACTION: Notification and request for 

comments; extension of comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: PHMSA published a 

notification in the Federal Register 

seeking public comments on a 

document titled ‘‘Pipeline Safety: 

Midstream Facilities Frequently Asked 

Questions.’’ PHMSA has received a 

request to extend the comment period to 

allow stakeholders more time to 

evaluate the frequently asked questions. 

Upon review of the request, PHMSA is 

extending the comment period for an 

additional 30 days. 

DATES: The closing date for filing 

comments is extended from January 4, 

2021, to February 4, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

which should be identified by docket 

number PHMSA–2019–0199, by any of 

the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

Comments may be submitted to http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Please follow the 

online instructions to submit comments. 

• Mail: Comments may be submitted 

by mailing them to the Dockets 

Management System, U.S. Department 

of Transportation, Dockets Operations, 

M–30, Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery: Comments may be 

submitted by hand delivering them to 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West 

Building, Ground Floor, Room W12– 

140, Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

Comments may be delivered between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through 

Friday, except for Federal holidays. 

• Fax: Comments may be faxed to 

202–493–2251. 

• Instructions: Identify docket 

number PHMSA–2019–0199 at the 

beginning of your comments. If you 

submit your comments by mail, you 

must submit two copies. If you wish to 

receive confirmation that PHMSA 

received your comments, you must 

include a self-addressed stamped 

postcard. Internet users should submit 

comments at http://

www.regulations.gov. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 242 / Wednesday, December 16, 2020 / Proposed Rules 81441 

• Privacy Act: DOT may solicit 

comments from the public regarding 

certain general notices. DOT posts these 

comments, without edit, including any 

personal information the commenter 

provides, to www.regulations.gov, as 

described in the system of records 

notice (DOT/ALL–14 FDMS), which can 

be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy. 

• Confidential Business Information: 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

is commercial or financial information 

that is both customarily and actually 

treated as private by its owner. Under 

the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 

(5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from 

public disclosure. If your comments 

responsive to this document contain 

commercial or financial information 

that is customarily treated as private, 

that you actually treat as private, and 

that is relevant or responsive to this 

document, it is important that you 

clearly designate the submitted 

comments as CBI. Pursuant to 49 CFR 

190.343, you may ask PHMSA to give 

confidential treatment to information 

you give to the agency by taking the 

following steps: (1) Mark each page of 

the original document submission 

containing CBI as ‘‘Confidential’’; (2) 

send PHMSA, along with the original 

document, a second copy of the original 

document with the CBI deleted; and (3) 

explain why the information you are 

submitting is CBI. Unless you are 

notified otherwise, PHMSA will treat 

such marked submissions as 

confidential under FOIA, and they will 

not be placed in the public docket of 

this notification. Submissions 

containing CBI should be sent to Sayler 

Palabrica at sayler.palabrica@dot.gov. 

Any commentary PHMSA receives that 

is not specifically designated as CBI will 

be placed in the public docket for this 

rulemaking. 

• Docket: The docket containing 

background documents and received 

comments is available at http://

www.regulations.gov. Once on this site, 

please follow the online instructions for 

accessing the dockets. Alternatively, 

you may review these documents in 

person at the street address listed above. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information contact Sayler 

Palabrica at 202–366–0559 or by email 

at sayler.palabrica@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On November 4, 2020, (85 FR 70124) 

PHMSA published a document titled 

‘‘Pipeline Safety: Midstream Facilities 

Frequently Asked Questions’’ requesting 

public comments on a set of seven draft 

frequently asked questions developed 

by the Midstream Processing Working 

Group, established by the Gas Pipeline 

Advisory Committee and the Liquid 

Pipeline Advisory Committee. On 

December 4, 2020, PHMSA received a 

comment extension request submitted 

by the following entities: 

• Association of Oil Pipelines 

• American Petroleum Institute 

• Interstate Natural Gas Association of 

America 

• American Gas Association 

• GPA Midstream Association 

This request is available in the docket 

for this notification. PHMSA believes 

that extension of the comment period is 

warranted based on the information 

provided in the request. Therefore, 

PHMSA has extended the comment 

period from January 4, 2021, to February 

4, 2021. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on December 

10, 2020, under authority delegated in 49 

CFR 1.97. 

Alan K. Mayberry, 

Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety. 

[FR Doc. 2020–27560 Filed 12–15–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–60–P 


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