[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 24 (Friday, February 6, 2009)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 6228]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-2562]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary

32 CFR Part 199

[DOD-2007-HA-0048]
RIN 0720-AB19


TRICARE; Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS): 
Delay of Effective Date and Additional Opportunity for Public Comment

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Defense.

ACTION: Final rule; delay of effective date and opportunity for public 
comment.

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SUMMARY: On December 10, 2008, DoD published a final rule implementing 
the TRICARE Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS), with 
an effective date of February 9, 2009 (73 FR 74945). Since that date, 
DoD has determined that in order for administrative claims processing 
procedures to be fully in place to implement effectively the new OPPS 
payments, TRICARE's OPPS will begin to apply to health care services 
provided on or after May 1, 2009. In the meantime, a memorandum of 
January 20, 2009, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of 
Staff, entitled ``Regulatory Review,'' published in the Federal 
Register on January 26, 2009, calls for agencies to consider delaying 
effective dates of rules not yet effective and inviting new public 
comment. In view of both of these developments, the Department is 
delaying the effective date of TRICARE's OPPS until May 1, 2009, and is 
inviting additional public comment on the final rule. Any timely public 
comments received will be considered and any changes to the final rule 
will be published in the Federal Register.

DATES: The effective date of the OPPS final rule published December 10, 
2008 (73 FR 74945) is delayed until May 1, 2009. Comments must be 
received on or before March 9, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number and/or 
Regulatory Information Number (RIN) and title, by either of the 
following methods:
    <bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
    <bullet> Mail: Federal Docket Management System Office, 1160 
Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1160.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and 
docket number or RIN for this Federal Register document. The general 
policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is 
to make these submissions available for public viewing on the Internet 
at http://regulations.gov as they are received without change, 
including any personal identifiers or contact information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David E. Bennett or Martha M. Maxey, 
TRICARE Management Activity, Medical Benefits and Reimbursement Branch, 
telephone (303) 676-3494 or (303) 676-3627.

    Dated: February 3, 2009.
Patricia L. Toppings,
OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. E9-2562 Filed 2-5-09; 8:45 am]
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