Rule-making notices
Notice of Hearing
Athletic Trainers Affiliated Credentialing Board
[
CR 02-152]
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN That pursuant to authority vested in the Athletic Trainers Affiliated Credentialing Board in ss.
15.085 (5) (b) and
227.11 (2), Stats., and interpreting ss.
448.95 (5m) and
448.956, Stats., the Athletic Trainers Affiliated Credentialing Board will hold a public hearing at the time and place indicated below to consider an order to amend ss.
AT 3.02 and
4.02 (4); and to create s.
AT 1.07 relating to consulting physicians and changing “athletic trainer" to “licensee."
Hearing Date, Time and Location
Date: February 10, 2003
Time: 9:30 A.M.
Location: 1400 East Washington Avenue
Room 179A
Madison, Wisconsin
Appearances at the Hearing
Interested persons are invited to present information at the hearing. Persons appearing may make an oral presentation but are urged to submit facts, opinions and argument in writing as well. Facts, opinions and argument may also be submitted in writing without a personal appearance by mail addressed to the Department of Regulation and Licensing, Office of Administrative Rules, P.O. Box 8935, Madison, Wisconsin 53708. Written comments must be received by February 21, 2003 to be included in the record of rule-making proceedings.
Analysis prepared by the Department of Regulation and Licensing
Chapter
AT 1 is silent regarding how many consulting physicians a licensee may have at any time, and the method to notify the board of a change in the consulting physician. Section 1 creates a new rule, s.
AT 1.07, to clarify that an athletic trainer may only have one consulting physician at any one time, and requires the notification of the board within 5 days following the change in the athletic trainer's consulting physician.
Section 2 amends s.
AT 3.02 because it does not currently explicitly provide that meeting continuing education requirements as a precondition for renewal does not apply to an application for renewal of a license that expires on the first renewal date after the date on which the board initially granted the license. Because of the license renewal cycle (July 1 of each even-numbered year) and the fact that licensees may be granted a license at any time prior to a renewal date certain licensees do not have a full two years prior to the first renewal date to satisfy continuing education requirements. Modification of the rule will place all renewals by licensees subject to a full two year opportunity to meet required continuing education requirements. This modification will assist first time renewal licensees by not requiring them to meet continuing education requirements on a potentially truncated schedule as a precondition for renewal.
Section 3 amends s.
AT 4.02 (4) to insert the word “licensee" in place of “athletic trainer" for consistency of use throughout the rules.
Fiscal Estimate
1. The anticipated fiscal effect on the fiscal liability and revenues of any local unit of government of the proposed rule is: $0.00.
2. The projected anticipated state fiscal effect during the current biennium of the proposed rule is: $0.00.
3. The projected net annualized fiscal impact on state funds of the proposed rule is: $0.00.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
These proposed rules will be reviewed by the department through its Small Business Review Advisory Committee to determine whether there will be an economic impact on a substantial number of small businesses, as defined in s.
227.114 (1) (a), Stats.
Copies of Rule and Contact Person
Copies of this proposed rule are available without cost upon request to: Pamela Haack, Department of Regulation and Licensing, Office of Administrative Rules, 1400 East Washington Avenue, Room 171, P.O. Box 8935, Madison, Wisconsin 53708 (608) 266-0495
Notice of Hearing
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN That pursuant to s.
49.688, Stats., the Department of Health and Family Services will hold a public hearing to consider the creation of ch.
HFS 109, Wis. Adm. Code, relating to operation of the SeniorCare prescription drug assistance program.
Hearing Date, Time and Location
Date & Time
|
Location
|
January 27, 2003
Monday
From 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
|
Room 751
State Office Building
1 West Wilson Street
MADISON, WI
|
The hearing site is fully accessible to people with disabilities. Parking that accommodates people with disabilities is available in the parking lot behind the building, in the Monona Terrace Convention Center Parking Ramp or in the Doty Street Parking Ramp. People with disabilities may enter the building directly from the parking lot at the west end of the building or from Wilson Street through the side entrance at the east end of the building.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Health and Family Services
The high cost of prescription drugs in Wisconsin and nationwide are especially burdensome on the elderly, many of whom live on a fixed income. Through
2001 Act 16, Wisconsin has addressed the problem those increasingly high costs pose to the elderly by creating section
49.688 of the statutes. Section
49.688 directs the Department to develop and administer the program of prescription drug benefits for the elderly that has come to be known as "SeniorCare." The statute also directs the Department to develop administrative rules for implementing SeniorCare, which the Department has done by creating a new chapter of administrative rules, HFS 109. The rules address a variety of issues associated with operating the program in accordance with section
49.688, Stats., including specifying:
• what prescription drugs are covered;
• who is eligible for benefits and services;
• how the Department determines household income for the program's eligibility determination;
• how the Department monitors compliance by pharmacists and pharmacies; and
• mechanisms for preventing fraud and abuse.
The Department drafted these rules to parallel the prescription drug provisions of the existing Medicaid rules in chapters HFS 101 to 108. The Department developed the program's administrative elements in consultation with an advisory committee composed of representatives of physicians, counties, seniors and pharmacies.
Individuals with prescription drug coverage under other health plans will be eligible to enroll in SeniorCare. For those who already have a health insurance plan, SeniorCare will coordinate benefit coverage with that plan. Individuals enrolled in Medicaid will not be eligible for the new program, because Wisconsin Medicaid already provides prescription drug coverage.
These proposed rules are nearly identical to the emergency rules the Department issued on September 1, 2002. These rules differ in that they:
• clarify provisions relating to recipients' withdrawal from the program [HFS 109.11 (5) (d) and (e)];
• add a provision allowing the Department to redetermine a recipient's eligibility to participate if the Department receives a bad check for the recipient's program enrollment fee [HFS 109.11 (6) (d)];
• add provisions relating to the Department's ability to redetermine and how the Department may correct benefit levels [HFS 109.13 (5) and (6)];
• add the requirement that the department will reinstate the SeniorCare benefit period for a person who has requested a withdrawal from the program under s.
HFS 109.11 (5) (d) if within 30 calendar days of the effective date of the withdrawal the Department receives the person's request to have SeniorCare benefits restored and the person meets all of the eligibility criteria under [HFS 109.14 (4) (c)];
• add circumstances under which the Department will begin recovery action against any SeniorCare participant to whom or on whose behalf an incorrect payment was made [HFS 109.62 (1) (b) to (d)];
• clarify that, in the event of a recipient's appeal of a Department action, the Department will not suspend, reduce or discontinue a recipient's benefits until a decision is rendered after the hearing [HFS 109.63 (2)]; and
• add a provision describing what will happen if program funding under s.
20.435 (4) (bv), Stats., is completely expended for the payments to SeniorCare providers [HFS 109.73].
Copies of Rule and Contact Person
To find out more about the hearings or to request a copy of the proposed rules, you may also write, phone, or e-mail:
Alfred Matano
Division of Health Care Financing
P.O. Box 309, Room 350
Madison, WI 53701-0309
608-267-6848 or, if you are hearing impaired,
(608) 266-1511 (TTY)
If you are hearing or visually impaired, do not speak English, or have other personal circumstances which might make communication at a hearing difficult and if you, therefore, require an interpreter or a non–English, large–print or taped version of the hearing document, contact the person at the address or phone number above. A person requesting a non–English or sign language interpreter should make that request at least 10 days before the hearing. With less than 10 days notice, an interpreter may not be available.
Written comments on the rules received at the above address no later than January 28, 2003 will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.
Fiscal Estimate
SeniorCare, established by
2001 Act 16, provides prescription drug assistance to Wisconsin residents over 65 years of age whose income does not exceed 240% of the federal poverty level (FPL) and to those whose income exceeds 240% of the FPL if their prescription drug expenditures bring their net income below the 240% limit (termed spenddown). Participants of SeniorCare are required to pay an annual $20 enrollment fee and copayments of $15 for each name brand drug and $5 for each generic drug. In addition, participants with higher incomes (over 160% of FPL) must first spend $500 (deductible) of their own funds annually for prescription drugs before SeniorCare will reimburse the participant's prescription drug expenditures.
On July 1, 2002, Wisconsin's application for a federal waiver to receive federal matching funds under the MA program for SeniorCare was approved for participants with income less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
The administrative rule does not have a fiscal effect per se. The fiscal effect of the SeniorCare program was taken into account when the legislation was passed. However, a number of the assumptions underlying the fiscal estimate of the SeniorCare legislation have turned out to be incorrect.
Act 16 provided $49,900,000 GPR under s.
20.435 (4) (bv), Stats., to support benefits under the SeniorCare program. Since the program first begins on September 1, 2002, funding was based on a ten-month period. In addition, when Act 16 was enacted, it was unclear whether Wisconsin would obtain a federal waiver. Consequently, funding was based on the assumption that federal funding would not be available.
Although the federal wavier will significantly reduce the need for state funds, the original cost projections substantially underestimated the benefit costs for SeniorCare. Current projections, that include the benefit of federal funding, anticipate that total SeniorCare costs in FY 03 will total $100 million all funds and $48 million GPR. The net result is that budgeted funding is projected to be adequate to fund projected costs of the program in FY 03.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
The rules for the SeniorCare program apply to the Department, to families that are applicants or recipients of the health care coverage provided by SeniorCare and to county social service or human service departments that take applications and determine eligibility for SeniorCare. The rules will not directly affect small businesses as “small business" is defined in s.
227.114 (1) (a), Stats.
Notice of Hearings
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN That pursuant to ss.
115.28 (9) and
227.11 (2) (a), Stats., and interpreting s.
115.28 (9), Stats., the Department of Public Instruction will hold public hearings as follows to consider the creation of Ch.
PI 23, relating to ESEA intradistrict safe school transfer options. The hearings will be held as follows:
Hearing Date, Time and Location
Date: January 30, 2003
Time: 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Madison
GEF 3 Building
125 South Webster St.
Room 041
Date: February 3, 2003
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Location: Waukesha
Waukesha Public Library
321 Wisconsin Avenue
Cutler Room
Date: February 19, 2003
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Location: Tomahawk
CESA 9
