HHS urged to withdraw proposed rule on retrospective review of regulations

The Department of Health and Human Services should withdraw a proposed rule that would require it to assess a regulation periodically to determine whether it has a significant economic impact on small entities and, if so, review the regulation to determine whether to retain, modify or eliminate it, AHA said in comments submitted Friday. “While we appreciate that this process has the potential to alleviate some regulatory burden for our hospital and health system members, we have substantial concerns that it does not provide an adequate mechanism for obtaining public input on the substance of regulations being reviewed,” AHA wrote. “HHS has approximately 18,000 regulations, the vast majority of which would be subject to review under this rule. They encompass a massive range of topics and affect a huge number of providers, beneficiaries and citizens; robust public input is critical.”