85070 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 207 / Friday, October 25, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

42 CFR Parts 431 and 457 

[CMS–0057–F2] 

RIN 0938–AU87 

Medicare and Medicaid Programs; 

Patient Protection and Affordable Care 

Act; Advancing Interoperability and 

Improving Prior Authorization 

Processes for Medicare Advantage 

Organizations, Medicaid Managed Care 

Plans, State Medicaid Agencies, 

Children’s Health Insurance Program 

(CHIP) Agencies and CHIP Managed 

Care Entities, Issuers of Qualified 

Health Plans on the FederallyFacilitated Exchanges, Merit-Based 

Incentive Payment System (MIPS) 

Eligible Clinicians, and Eligible 

Hospitals and Critical Access 

Hospitals in the Medicare Promoting 

Interoperability Program; Correcting 

Amendment 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS), Department 

of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Final rule; correcting 

amendment. 

SUMMARY: This document corrects 

technical errors in the final rule that 

appeared in the February 8, 2024 

Federal Register titled ‘‘Medicare and 

Medicaid Programs; Patient Protection 

and Affordable Care Act; Advancing 

Interoperability and Improving Prior 

Authorization Processes for Medicare 

Advantage Organizations, Medicaid 

Managed Care Plans, State Medicaid 

Agencies, Children’s Health Insurance 

Program (CHIP) Agencies and CHIP 

Managed Care Entities, Issuers of 

Qualified Health Plans on the FederallyFacilitated Exchanges, Merit-Based 

Incentive Payment System (MIPS) 

Eligible Clinicians, and Eligible 

Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals 

in the Medicare Promoting 

Interoperability Program’’. 

DATES: This correcting amendment is 

effective October 25, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

David Koppel (303) 844–2883. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

In FR Doc. 2024–00895 of February 8, 

2024 (89 FR 8758), the final rule titled 

‘‘Medicare and Medicaid Programs; 

Patient Protection and Affordable Care 

Act; Advancing Interoperability and 

Improving Prior Authorization 

Processes for Medicare Advantage 

Organizations, Medicaid Managed Care 

Plans, State Medicaid Agencies, 

Children’s Health Insurance Program 

(CHIP) Agencies and CHIP Managed 

Care Entities, Issuers of Qualified Health 

Plans on the Federally-Facilitated 

Exchanges, Merit-Based Incentive 

Payment System (MIPS) Eligible 

Clinicians, and Eligible Hospitals and 

Critical Access Hospitals in the 

Medicare Promoting Interoperability 

Program’’ (hereinafter referred to as 

‘‘CMS Interoperability and Prior 

Authorization final rule’’), there were 

technical errors associated with the 

regulations text that are identified and 

corrected in this correcting amendment. 

II. Summary of Errors 

In §§ 431.60 and 457.730, we are 

correcting errors in executing the 

amendatory instructions regarding the 

removal of paragraph (g) (Data 

availability) and the redesignation of 

paragraph (f) (Beneficiary resources 

regarding privacy and security) as the 

new paragraph (g). 

III. Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking 

and Delay in Effective Date 

Under 5 U.S.C. 553(b) of the 

Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 

the agency is required to publish a 

notice of the proposed rule in the 

Federal Register before the provisions 

of a rule take effect. Specifically, 5 

U.S.C. 553 requires the agency to 

publish a notice of the proposed rule in 

the Federal Register that includes a 

reference to the legal authority under 

which the rule is proposed, and the 

terms and substance of the proposed 

rule or a description of the subjects and 

issues involved. Further, 5 U.S.C. 553 

requires the agency to give interested 

parties the opportunity to participate in 

the rulemaking through public comment 

on a proposed rule. Similarly, section 

1871(b)(1) of the Act requires the 

Secretary to provide for notice of the 

proposed rule in the Federal Register 

and provide a period of not less than 60 

days for public comment for rulemaking 

to carry out the administration of the 

Medicare program under title XVIII of 

the Act. In addition, section 553(d) of 

the APA, and section 1871(e)(1)(B)(i) of 

the Social Security Act (the Act) 

mandate a 30-day delay in effective date 

after issuance or publication of a rule. 

Sections 553(b)(B) and 553(d)(3) of the 

APA provide for exceptions from the 

notice and comment and delay in 

effective date APA requirements. In 

cases in which these exceptions apply, 

sections 1871(b)(2)(C) and 

1871(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act, also provide 

exceptions from the notice and 60-day 

comment period and delay in effective 

date requirements of the Act. Section 

553(b)(B) of the APA and section 

1871(b)(2)(C) of the Act authorize an 

agency to dispense with normal 

rulemaking requirements for good cause 

if the agency makes a finding that the 

notice and comment process are 

impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary 

to the public interest. In addition, both 

section 553(d)(3) of the APA and section 

1871(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act allow the 

agency to avoid the 30-day delay in 

effective date where such delay is 

contrary to the public interest and an 

agency includes a statement of support. 

We believe that this correcting 

amendment does not constitute a rule 

that would be subject to the notice and 

comment or delayed effective date 

requirements of the APA or section 1871 

of the Act. This correcting amendment 

corrects technical errors in the 

regulatory text of the final rule but does 

not make substantive changes to the 

policies that were adopted in the final 

rule. As a result, this correcting 

amendment is intended to ensure that 

the regulations at §§ 431.60 and 457.730 

accurately reflect the policies adopted 

in the final rule. 

In addition, even if this were a rule to 

which the notice and comment 

procedures and delayed effective date 

requirements applied, we find that there 

is good cause to waive such 

requirements. Undertaking further 

notice and comment procedures to 

incorporate the regulatory text 

correction in this document into the 

final rule or delaying the effective date 

would be unnecessary, as we are not 

altering our policies or regulatory 

changes, but rather, we are simply 

implementing the policies and 

regulatory changes that we previously 

proposed, requested comment on, and 

subsequently finalized. 

This final rule correcting amendment 

is intended solely to ensure that the 

final rule and the Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) accurately reflect 

policies and regulatory changes that 

have been adopted through rulemaking. 

Furthermore, such notice and comment 

procedures would be contrary to the 

public interest because it is in the 

public’s interest to ensure that the final 

rule accurately reflects our policies and 

regulatory changes. Therefore, we 

believe we have good cause to waive the 

notice and comment and effective date 

requirements. 

List of Subjects 

42 CFR Part 431 

Grant programs—health, Health 

facilities, Medicaid, Privacy, Reporting 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 207 / Friday, October 25, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 85071 

and recordkeeping requirements, State 

fair hearings. 

42 CFR Part 457 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Grant programs—health, 

Health insurance, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, the Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services corrects 42 CFR 

chapter IV by making the following 

correcting amendments: 

PART 431—STATE ORGANIZATION 

AND GENERAL ADMINISTRATION 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 431 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 1302. 

■ 2. Section 431.60 is amended by 

revising paragraph (g) to read as follows: 

§ 431.60 Beneficiary access to and 

exchange of data. 

* * * * * 

(g) Beneficiary resources regarding 

privacy and security. The State must 

provide in an easily accessible location 

on its public website and through other 

appropriate mechanisms through which 

it ordinarily communicates with current 

and former beneficiaries seeking to 

access their health information held by 

the State Medicaid agency, educational 

resources in non-technical, simple and 

easy-to-understand language explaining 

at a minimum— 

(1) General information on steps the 

individual may consider taking to help 

protect the privacy and security of their 

health information, including factors to 

consider in selecting an application 

including secondary uses of data, and 

the importance of understanding the 

security and privacy practices of any 

application to which they will entrust 

their health information; and 

(2) An overview of which types of 

organizations or individuals are and are 

not likely to be HIPAA covered entities, 

the oversight responsibilities of the 

Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the 

Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and 

how to submit a complaint to— 

(i) The HHS Office for Civil Rights 

(OCR); and 

(ii) The Federal Trade Commission 

(FTC). 

* * * * * 

PART 457—ALLOTMENTS AND 

GRANTS TO STATES 

■ 3. The authority citation for part 457 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 1302. 

■ 4. Section 457.730 is amended by 

revising paragraph (g) to read as follows: 

§ 457.730 Beneficiary access to and 

exchange of data. 

* * * * * 

(g) Beneficiary resources regarding 

privacy and security. A State must 

provide in an easily accessible location 

on its public website and through other 

appropriate mechanisms through which 

it ordinarily communicates with current 

and former beneficiaries seeking to 

access their health information held by 

the State CHIP agency, educational 

resources in non-technical, simple and 

easy-to-understand language explaining 

at a minimum— 

(1) General information on steps the 

individual may consider taking to help 

protect the privacy and security of their 

health information, including factors to 

consider in selecting an application 

including secondary uses of data, and 

the importance of understanding the 

security and privacy practices of any 

application to which they will entrust 

their health information; and 

(2) An overview of which types of 

organizations or individuals are and are 

not likely to be HIPAA covered entities, 

the oversight responsibilities of OCR 

and FTC, and how to submit a 

complaint to— 

(i) The HHS Office for Civil Rights 

(OCR); and 

(ii) The Federal Trade Commission 

(FTC). 

* * * * * 

Elizabeth J. Gramling, 

Executive Secretary to the Department, 

Department of Health and Human Services. 

[FR Doc. 2024–24801 Filed 10–24–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

45 CFR Part 98 

RIN 0970–AD02 

Improving Child Care Access, 

Affordability, and Stability in the Child 

Care and Development Fund (CCDF); 

Corrections 

AGENCY: Office of Child Care (OCC), 

Administration for Children and 

Families (ACF), Department of Health 

and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Correcting amendments. 

SUMMARY: On March 1, 2024, the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services published a final rule to 

improve child care access, affordability, 

and stability in the Child Care and 

Development Fund. An amendment in 

the final rule was incorporated 

incorrectly due to technical inaccuracies 

in the instructions. Additionally, this 

document addresses one reference error 

of the rule. This document makes 

technical changes to correct the final 

regulations. 

DATES: Effective on October 25, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Megan Campbell, Office of Child Care, 

202–690–6499 or megan.campbell@

acf.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

‘‘Improving Child Care Access, 

Affordability, and Stability in the Child 

Care and Development Fund (CCDF)’’ 

rule, published at 89 FR 15366 on 

March 1, 2024, included an inaccurate 

amendatory instruction for § 98.21. 

Another reference error in § 98.83 dates 

to a previous amendment to the CCDF 

rule, published at 81 FR 67438 on 

September 30, 2016. This document 

corrects the final regulations. 

List of Subjects in 45 CFR Part 98 

Child care, Grant programs—social 

programs. 

Accordingly, 45 CFR part 98 is 

corrected by making the following 

correcting amendments: 

PART 98—CHILD CARE AND 

DEVELOPMENT FUND 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 98 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 618, 9858. 

§ 98.21 [Amended] 

■ 2. Amend § 98.21 by removing 

paragraph (h) and redesignating 

paragraphs (i) through (k) as paragraphs 

(h) through (j). 

■ 3. Amend § 98.83 by revising 

paragraph (j)(2) to read as follows: 

§ 98.83 Requirements for tribal programs. 

* * * * * 

(j) * * * 

(2) Federal obligation of funds for 

planning costs, pursuant to paragraph 

(j)(1) of this section, is subject to the 

actual availability of the appropriation. 

* * * * * 

Elizabeth J. Gramling, 

Executive Secretary, Department of Health 

and Human Services. 

[FR Doc. 2024–24781 Filed 10–24–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 


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