The Obama administration finalized one rule and proposed two more to reduce regulatory burdens that together would save providers more than $1.1 billion annually.
The rules, published in today's Federal Register, are part of the initiative President Barack Obama announced in January to eliminate unnecessary and outdated rules that hinder productive work in private companies and limits growth in the economy.
The finalized rule—first proposed in April—would rollback $50 million in annual safety requirements (PDF) for ambulatory surgery centers, including the time-consuming and “excessive” provision of detailed patient rights, according to Cass Sunstein, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
The proposed regulations included an update of CMS hospital rules (PDF), known as the Medicare Conditions of Participation, that federal officials estimate would save hospitals more than $900 million annually. The update includes the elimination of a requirement that hospital systems create governing bodies for each individual hospital.
The second proposed rule aims to save nonhospital providers and healthcare equipment suppliers $200 million annually by eliminating old requirements. The changes would include cutting the list of emergency equipment ambulatory surgery centers are required to keep on hand.
Federal officials, in a Tuesday call with reporters, insisted that the savings from the regulatory rollback would come from freeing up employees to spend more time on patient care and not from nationwide firings of regulatory compliance personnel.
“We don’t expect job losses here,” Sunstein said.
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