This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents. Prices of

new books are listed in the first FEDERAL

REGISTER issue of each week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

75043 

Vol. 79, No. 242 

Wednesday, December 17, 2014 

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL 

MANAGEMENT 

5 CFR Part 890 

RIN 3206–AN03 

Federal Employees Health Benefits 

Program Miscellaneous Changes: 

Medically Underserved Areas 

AGENCY: U.S. Office of Personnel 

Management. 

ACTION: Direct final rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) is issuing a direct 

final rule to discontinue the annual 

determination of the Medically 

Underserved Areas (MUAs) for the 

Federal Employees Health Benefits 

(FEHB) Program. 

DATES: Effective January 1, 2015. 

Comments due February 17, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

Lynelle T. Frye, Policy Analyst, 

Planning and Policy Analysis, U.S. 

Office of Personnel Management, Room 

4312, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, 

DC; or FAX to (202) 606–4640 Attn: 

Lynelle T. Frye. You may also submit 

comments using the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Lynelle T. Frye, Policy Analyst, at (202) 

606–0004 or email: lynelle.frye@

opm.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Due to the 

enactment of Section 2706(a) of the 

Public Health Service Act (PHSA), OPM 

has concluded that the annual 

determination of Medically 

Underserved Areas (MUAs) for the 

FEHB Program is no longer required. 

Section 2706(a) of the PHSA requires 

that a health insurance issuer or group 

health plan offering coverage shall not 

discriminate with respect to coverage 

against any health care provider who 

performs covered services when acting 

within the scope of their license or 

certification under applicable state law 

in any area of a state. 

Background 

The Federal Employees Health 

Benefits (FEHB) law (5 U.S.C. 

8902(m)(2)) requires that a State be 

designated as a Medically Underserved 

Area if 25% or more of the population 

lives in an area identified by the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS) as a primary medical 

care manpower shortage area. 

It is intended to provide special 

consideration for enrollees who obtain 

health services in states with critical 

shortages of primary care physicians. As 

such, FEHB fee-for-service plans are 

required to provide benefits for covered 

services (subject to their contract terms) 

provided by any licensed provider 

practicing within the scope of his/her 

license, such as physician assistants or 

nurse midwives, which otherwise may 

not be considered as covered providers 

by the fee-for-service plan. 

After the enactment of Section 2706(a) 

of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) 

the Department of Labor offered 

guidance to health plans and health 

insurance issuers that, to the extent an 

item or service is a covered benefit 

under the plan or coverage, and 

consistent with reasonable medical 

management techniques specified under 

the plan with respect to the frequency, 

method, treatment or setting for an item 

or service, a plan or issuer shall not 

discriminate based on a provider’s 

license or certification, to the extent the 

provider is acting within the scope of 

the provider’s license or certification 

under applicable state law. This 

provision does not require plans or 

issuers to accept all types of providers 

into a network. This provision also does 

not govern provider reimbursement 

rates, which may be subject to quality, 

performance, or market standards and 

considerations. 

The effect of Section 2706(a) of the 

PHSA is to expand the geographic area 

of coverage for all licensed providers 

offering covered services within the 

scope of their license to all areas of all 

States rather than the only those areas 

designated as Medically Underserved 

under 5 U.S.C. 8902(m)(2). 

OPM has concluded that Section 

2706(a) of the PHSA renders the annual 

determination of the MUAs for FEHB no 

longer required. It serves a similar 

purpose, since this Section is to expand 

the geographic area of coverage for all 

licensed providers offering covered 

services within the scope of their 

license to all areas of all States rather 

than the only those areas designated as 

Medically Underserved under 5 U.S.C. 

8902(m)(2). 

With this change, we are not seeking 

a comment period since we feel it serves 

the same purpose as MUA. 

Regulatory Impact Analysis 

OPM has examined the impact of this 

proposed rule as required by Executive 

Order 12866 and Executive Order 

13563, which directs agencies to assess 

all costs and benefits of available 

regulatory alternatives and, if regulation 

is necessary, to select regulatory 

approaches that maximize net benefits 

(including potential economic, 

environmental, public, health, and 

safety effects, distributive impacts, and 

equity). A regulatory impact analysis 

must be prepared for major rules with 

economically significant effects of $100 

million or more in any one year. This 

rule is not considered a major rule 

because there will be a minimal impact 

on costs to Federal agencies. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

I certify that this regulation will not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities 

because the regulation only affects 

health insurance benefits of Federal 

employees and annuitants. 

Regulatory Review 

This rule has been reviewed by the 

Office of Management and Budget in 

accordance with Executive Order 12866. 

Federalism 

We have examined this rule in 

accordance with Executive Order 13132, 

Federalism, and have determined that 

this rule will not have any negative 

impact on the rights, roles, and 

responsibilities of State, local, or Tribal 

governments. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. chapter 35; see 5 CFR part 

1320) requires that the U.S. Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

approve all collections of information 

by a Federal agency from the public 

before they can be implemented. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with RULES
75044 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 242 / Wednesday, December 17, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

Respondents are not required to respond 

to any collection of information unless 

it displays a current valid OMB control 

number. OPM is not proposing any 

additional collections in this rule. 

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 890 

Administrative practice and 

procedure; Government employees; 

Health facilities; Health insurance; 

Health professions; Hostages; Iraq; 

Kuwait; Lebanon; Military personnel; 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements; Retirement. 

U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 

Kathleen Archuleta, 

Director. 

Accordingly, OPM is amending 5 CFR 

part 890 as follows: 

PART 890—FEDERAL EMPLOYEES 

HEALTH BENEFITS PROGRAM 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 890 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 8913; Sec. 890.301 also 

issued under sec. 311 of Pub. L. 111–03, 123 

Stat. 64; Sec. 890.111 also issued under 

section 1622(b) of Pub. L. 104–106, 110 Stat. 

521; Sec. 890.112 also issued under section 

1 of Pub. L. 110–279, 122 Stat. 2604; 5 U.S.C. 

8913; Sec. 890.803 also issued under 50 

U.S.C. 403p, 22 U.S.C. 4069c and 4069c–1; 

subpart L also issued under sec. 599C of Pub. 

L. 101–513, 104 Stat. 2064, as amended; Sec. 

890.102 also issued under sections 11202(f), 

11232(e), 11246 (b) and (c) of Pub. L. 105– 

33, 111 Stat. 251; and section 721 of Pub. L. 

105–261, 112 Stat. 2061; Pub. L. 111–148, as 

amended by Pub. L. 111–152. 

Subpart G—[Removed and Reserved] 

■ 1. Remove and Reserve subpart G, 

consisting of §§ 890.701 and 890.702. 

[FR Doc. 2014–29554 Filed 12–16–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6325–63–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Bureau of Industry and Security 

15 CFR Parts 744 and 774 

[Docket No. 140813667–4667–01] 

RIN 0694–AG27 

Expansion of the Microprocessor 

Military End-Use and End-User Control 

AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and 

Security, Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Industry and 

Security (BIS) is amending the 

microprocessor military end-use and 

end-user control in the Export 

Administration Regulations by 

expanding the scope of microprocessors 

subject to the restriction to harmonize 

with technological advances to 

microprocessor chips and expand the 

scope to include related software and 

technology for the development and 

production of these chips. In addition, 

this rule adds a prohibition on the use 

of license exceptions (including License 

Exception ENC) and otherwise expands 

license requirements for exports, 

reexports, or transfers (in-country) of 

microprocessors subject to the military 

end-use and end-user restriction. This 

expansion is consistent with the foreign 

policy objectives of the United States of 

preventing U.S. exports that might 

contribute to destabilizing military 

capabilities against the United States 

and its citizens. The foreign policy 

report explaining the expansion was 

sent to Congress on December 1, 2014. 

This rule also expands the scope of 

controls to cover in-country transfers, in 

order to control in-country transfers to 

prohibited military end users or end 

uses. BIS is also making editorial and 

format revisions to this section to 

improve clarity. 

DATES: Effective date: This rule is 

effective December 17, 2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sharron Cook, Office of Exporter 

Services, Bureau of Industry and 

Security, Department of Commerce, 

Phone: (202) 482–2440 or by email at 

Sharron.cook@bis.doc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On January 14, 2003 (68 FR 1796), the 

Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) 

published a rule to implement the 

microprocessor military end-user and 

end-use control in § 744.17 of the Export 

Administration Regulations (EAR). That 

rule imposed an end-use and end-user 

based license requirement on the export 

of certain microprocessors to military 

end uses and end users in countries in 

Country Group D:1 (see Supplement No. 

1 to part 740 of the EAR). 

End-use and end-user based controls 

are in addition to any controls based on 

the technical parameters of the item. 

Thus, the end-use and end-user based 

license requirements set forth in 

§ 744.17 may apply to a transaction, 

even if the Commerce Country Chart 

indicates there are no license 

requirements, i.e., no ‘‘X’’ in the box. 

When controls set forth under more 

than one section of the EAR apply to a 

transaction, the license requirements for 

such a transaction will be determined 

based on the requirements of all 

applicable sections of the EAR, and 

license applications will be reviewed 

under all applicable licensing policies. 

To determine license requirements, 

one should follow the decision tree 

flowchart in Supplement No. 1 to part 

732. An ECCN may have multiple 

license requirements, e.g., CCL-based, 

end-use based, or end-user based. Also 

note that to use a license exception, 

each license requirement on an ECCN 

must be overcome. 

Revisions to § 744.17 ‘‘Restrictions on 

Certain Exports, Reexports and 

Transfers (in-country) of 

Microprocessors and Associated 

‘‘Software’’ and ‘‘Technology’’ for 

‘Military End Uses’ and to ‘Military End 

Users’’’ 

Since 744.17 was established, BIS’s 

administration of export controls has 

increasingly focused on end uses and 

end users. Consistent with this change, 

BIS is adding in-country transfer 

controls to this section of the EAR to 

incorporate restrictions that would 

apply even if a transaction is licensed 

for a particular destination. 

BIS is also expanding the scope of 

microprocessors requiring a license 

under § 744.17 by removing the specific 

ECCN (3A991.a.1) from the text, so that 

the prohibition applies to any 

microprocessor meeting the specified 

performance criteria, and associated 

‘‘software’’ and ‘‘technology.’’ As 

encryption and other ‘‘information 

security’’ functionality has become more 

commonplace in hardware, BIS has 

concluded that microprocessors 

classified under any ECCN in Category 

5—Part 2 of the EAR (including ECCN 

5A992.c for ‘mass market’ encryption 

chips and ECCN 5A002 for a variety of 

non-‘mass market’ microprocessors) 

warrant the same license requirement as 

BIS currently requires under § 744.17 

for the microprocessors classified 

outside of Category 5—Part 2, even if no 

license would be required (NLR) or 

License Exception ENC would 

otherwise be available. Because of this 

scope revision, the first sentence of 

paragraph (a) is revised to clarify that 

this license requirement is in addition 

to all license requirements set forth in 

the EAR and not just anti-terrorism 

reasons for control. Furthermore, BIS is 

expanding the scope of the license 

requirement in § 744.17 to include 

‘‘technology’’ and ‘‘software’’ for the 

‘‘development’’ and ‘‘production’’ of the 

microprocessors described in 

§ 744.17(a). 

In relation to § 744.17(f) 

‘‘Exceptions,’’ BIS is also moving, from 

paragraph (a) to paragraph (f), text that 

exempted from § 744.17 personnel and 

agencies of the U.S. Government or 

agencies of a cooperating government 

under License Exception GOV. In 


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