17566 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 67 / Monday, April 9, 2007 / Notices 

Proposed Criteria for Donor 

Reimbursement 

In addition to the eligibility and 

priority guidelines discussed above, the 

following criteria for donor 

reimbursement are proposed: 

1. Any individual who in good faith 

incurs qualifying expenses toward the 

intended donation of an organ but with 

respect to whom, for such reasons as the 

Secretary determines to be appropriate, 

no donation of the organ occurs (see 

special provision). This criteria is 

specifically discussed in the authorizing 

statute. 

2. Donor and recipient of the organ 

are either U.S. citizens or lawfully 

admitted residents of the U.S. 

3. Donor and recipient have primary 

residence in the U.S. or its territories. 

4. Travel is originating from the 

donor’s primary residence. 

5. Donor meets the criteria for 

informed consent for the planned 

procedure according to applicable State 

and Federal laws. 

6. Donor and recipient are not 

participating in a paired exchange 

program or a living donor/deceased 

donor exchange for the particular 

donation procedure for which 

reimbursement is being sought unless 

the legality of such practices is clarified 

by the Federal Government. 

7. Donor and recipient attest to full 

compliance with section 301 of the 

National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA), 

as amended (42 U.S.C. 274e) which 

stipulates in part that ‘‘ * * * [i]t shall 

be unlawful for any person to 

knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise 

transfer any human organ for valuable 

consideration for use in human 

transplantation if the transfer affects 

interstate commerce.’’

8. The transplant center where the 

donation procedure occurs attests to its 

status of good standing with the Organ 

Procurement and Transplantation 

Network (i.e., it is not a Member Not in 

Good Standing) and assurance that the 

program follows best practices for the 

health and safety of living donors such 

as the recommendations provided in the 

Consensus Statement of the Ethics 

Committee of the Vancouver Forum on 

living organ donation (Source: Pruett 

TL, Tibell A, Alabdulkareem A, 

Bhandari M, Cronin DC, Dew MA, DibKuri A, Gutmann T, Matas A, McMurdo 

L, Rahmel A, Rizvi SA, Wright L, 

Delmonico FL. The ethics statement of 

the Vancouver Forum on the live lung, 

liver, pancreas, and intestine donor. 

Transplantation 81(10):1386–1387; 

(2006). 

The public is invited to submit 

comments on these criteria. 

Proposed Qualifying Expenses 

For the purpose of the Reimbursement 

of Travel and Subsistence Expenses 

toward Living Organ Donation Program, 

qualifying expenses presently include 

only travel, lodging, and meals and 

incidental expenses incurred by the 

donor and/or accompanying person(s) 

as part of: 

(1) Donor evaluation clinic visit or 

hospitalization; 

(2) Hospitalization for the living 

donor surgical procedure; and/or 

(3) Medical or surgical follow-up 

clinic visit or hospitalization within 90 

days after the living donation 

procedure. 

The Program will pay for up to five 

trips per donation or intended donation. 

Three of these trips may be for the 

potential living donor and up to two 

trips may be for any accompanying 

person(s). The total Federal 

reimbursement for qualified expenses 

during the donation process for the 

donor and accompanying individuals 

shall not exceed $6,000. 

The public is invited to submit 

comments on these criteria. 

Special Provisions 

The authorizing statute provides that 

the Secretary may consider as an 

eligible donating individual a person 

who in good faith incurs qualifying 

expenses toward the intended donation 

of an organ but with respect to whom, 

for reasons the Secretary determines to 

be appropriate, no donation of the organ 

occurs. Many factors may prevent the 

intended and willing donor from 

proceeding with the donation. Such 

circumstances include present health 

status of the intended donor or recipient 

that would prevent the transplant or 

donation from proceeding, perceived 

long-term risks to the intended donor, 

circumstances such as acts of God (e.g., 

major storms or hurricanes), or other 

unforeseen events outside of the 

intended donor’s control. In such cases, 

the intended donor and accompanying 

persons may receive reimbursement for 

the qualified expenses incurred. In the 

case that a potential donor no longer 

wishes to donate, he or she may receive 

reimbursement for qualified expenses 

incurred. However, payments received 

for expenses that were not incurred by 

the intended donor and accompanying 

persons must be refunded. Otherwise, 

such payment will be treated as income 

to the intended donor, and in 

accordance with Internal Revenue 

Service (IRS) regulations, the Regents of 

the University of Michigan shall notify 

the IRS (Form 1099) that a payment has 

been made to the intended donor in the 

amount equivalent to the unexpended 

payment. 

Dated: March 30, 2007. 

Elizabeth M. Duke, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. E7–6598 Filed 4–6–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4165–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

Notice of Establishment; Pursuant to 

the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 

as Amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), the 

Director, National Institutes of Health 

(NIH), Announces the Establishment of 

the Council of Councils (Council) 

The Council shall provide advice and 

recommendations to the Director, NIH, 

or other appropriate delegated officials 

on matters related to the policies and 

activities of the Division of Program 

Coordination, Planning, and Strategic 

Initiatives including making 

recommendations with respect to the 

conduct and support of research that 

represents important areas of emerging 

scientific opportunities, rising public 

health challenges, or knowledge gaps 

that deserve special emphasis and 

would benefit from conducting or 

supporting additional research that 

involves collaboration between two or 

more national research institutes or 

national centers, or would otherwise 

benefit from strategic coordination and 

planning. 

Duration of this committee is two 

years from the date the Charter is filed. 

Dated: March 29, 2007. 

Elias A. Zerhouni, 

Director, National Institutes of Health. 

[FR Doc. 07–1730 Filed 4–6–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

National Institute on Deafness and 

Other Communication Disorders; 

Notice of Closed Meetings 

Pursuant to section 10(d) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 

amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), notice 

is hereby given of the following 

meetings. 

The meetings will be closed to the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions set forth in sections 

552b(c)(4) and 552b(c)(6), Title 5 U.S.C., 

as amended. The grant applications and 


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