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

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.