22770 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 74 / Tuesday, April 17, 2012 / Notices 

Board members; that is, the Secretary of 

Defense shall appoint subcommittee 

members even if the member in 

question is already a Board member. 

Subcommittee members, with the 

approval of the Secretary of Defense, 

may serve a term of service on the 

subcommittee of two years; however, no 

member shall serve more than two 

consecutive terms of service on the 

subcommittee. 

With the exception of travel and per 

diem for official travel, subcommittee 

members shall serve without 

compensation. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim 

Freeman, Acting Advisory Committee 

Management Officer for the Department 

of Defense, 703–692–5952. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Board 

shall meet at the call of the Board’s 

Designated Federal Officer, in 

consultation with the Chairperson. The 

Board shall meet at least semi-annually. 

In addition, the Designated Federal 

Officer is required to be in attendance 

at all Board and subcommittee meetings 

for the entire duration of each and every 

meeting; however, in the absence of the 

Designated Federal Officer, the 

Alternate Designated Federal Officer 

shall attend the entire duration of the 

Board or subcommittee meeting. 

Pursuant to 41 CFR 102–3.105(j) and 

102–3.140, the public or interested 

organizations may submit written 

statements to the Inland Waterways 

Users Board membership about the 

Board’s mission and functions. Written 

statements may be submitted at any 

time or in response to the stated agenda 

of planned meeting of the Inland 

Waterways Users Board. 

All written statements shall be 

submitted to the Designated Federal 

Officer for the Inland Waterways Users 

Board, and this individual will ensure 

that the written statements are provided 

to the membership for their 

consideration. Contact information for 

the Inland Waterways Users Board’s 

Designated Federal Officer can be 

obtained from the GSA’s FACA 

Database—https://www.fido.gov/ 

facadatabase/public.asp. 

The Designated Federal Officer, 

pursuant to 41 CFR 102–3.150, will 

announce planned meetings of the 

Inland Waterways Users Board. The 

Designated Federal Officer, at that time, 

may provide additional guidance on the 

submission of written statements that 

are in response to the stated agenda for 

the planned meeting in question. 

Dated: April 12, 2012. 

Aaron Siegel, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9165 Filed 4–16–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

Termination of Provider 

Reimbursement Demonstration Project 

for the State of Alaska 

AGENCY: Department of Defense (DoD). 

ACTION: Notice of demonstration 

termination. 

SUMMARY: This notice provides a 

termination of the demonstration project 

in the State of Alaska for individual 

provider payment rates. Under the 

demonstration, payment rates for 

physicians and other non-institutional 

individual professional providers in the 

State of Alaska have been set at a rate 

higher than the Medicare rate. The goal 

of the demonstration was to determine 

at what rate payment would need to be 

set in order to encourage higher 

participation in the TRICARE program 

by providers in Alaska. 

DATES: The demonstration regarding 

payment rates for physicians and other 

non-institutional providers is 

terminated effective May 17, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: TRICARE Management 

Activity (TMA), Medical Benefits and 

Reimbursement Branch, 16401 East 

Centretech Parkway, Aurora, CO 80011– 

9066. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Glenn J. Corn, TRICARE Management 

Activity, Medical Benefits and 

Reimbursement Branch, telephone (303) 

676–3566. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

November 20, 2006 (71 FR 67113), DoD 

published a Notice of a TRICARE 

demonstration project for the State of 

Alaska, with an effective date of January 

1, 2007. The demonstration set payment 

rates for physicians and other noninstitutional individual professional 

providers in the State of Alaska at a rate 

higher than the Medicare rate in order 

to determine if more individual 

providers would participate in the 

TRICARE program. The demonstration 

was effective January 1, 2007 for a 

period of three years, ending on 

December 31, 2009. The demonstration 

was extended twice. On December 18, 

2009 (74 FR 67179), DoD published a 

Notice of demonstration extension that 

extended the demonstration through 

December 31, 2010, and on July 8, 2010 

(75 FR 39213), DoD published a Notice 

of demonstration extension that 

extended the demonstration through 

December 31, 2012. 

An analysis of the effectiveness of the 

demonstration was conducted and it 

showed an increase in provider 

participation. This increased 

participation opened access to local 

specialty care that had previously been 

severely impaired, and it decreased the 

overall cost of health care by reducing 

the travel costs incurred by the 

Department for Prime beneficiaries who 

had been forced to travel long distances 

to receive care outside of Alaska. The 

demonstration also showed that each 

geographic area in Alaska had increased 

participation using the same 

‘‘multiplier’’ of the Medicare rate. Thus 

in order to preserve the successes made 

through the demonstration project in 

improving provider access and to keep 

the CHAMPUS Maximum Allowable 

Charge rates in relative proportion with 

the demonstration rates, the Department 

has determined that it can use its 

current authority under Title 10, United 

States Code, section 1079(h)(5) to 

provide a state-wide locality based 

reimbursement waiver without 

requesting additional statutory or 

regulatory authority for the State of 

Alaska. A state-wide locality based 

waiver was approved by the Director of 

TMA under current authority (Title 32, 

Code of Federal Regulations, section 

199.14(j)(1)(iv)(D)) on September 15, 

2011, and thus the need for this 

demonstration has ceased. This statewide locality based reimbursement 

waiver allows the higher individual 

provider payment rates associated with 

the demonstration project. 

Dated: March 30, 2012. 

Patricia Toppings, 

OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, 

Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9146 Filed 4–16–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of the Air Force 

U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory 

Board; Notice of Meeting 

AGENCY: Department of the Air Force, 

U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory 

Board. 

ACTION: Meeting notice. 

SUMMARY: Due to difficulties, beyond the 

control of the U.S. Air Force Scientific 

Advisory Board or its Designated 

Federal Officer, the Board was unable to 

file a Federal Register notice for the 


wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES