Date: September 5, 1995
For Release: Immediately
Contact: HHS Press Office (202) 690-6343

HHS Will Abolish More Than 1,000 Pages
of Unnecessary Regulation

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala will propose the elimination of more than 1,000 pages of rules under the jurisdiction of the Department, furthering efforts to reduce the regulatory burden on HHS' partners and beneficiaries. The Secretary will also propose the elimination of an additional 700 pages that would take effect with congressional approval. Taken together, these proposals represent close to a 25 percent reduction in the total pages of the Department's published regulations.

As a down payment on these commitments, the Department has already eliminated more than 300 pages of regulations under the authority of the Administration for Children and Families. HHS will also revise an additional 2,200 pages of regulation. All told, more than half of HHS' 6900 pages in the Code of Federal Regulations will be targeted for elimination or revision.

"We're putting outdated regulations out-of-print," Secretary Shalala said. "This is another step in our continuing drive to eliminate unnecessary regulations while maintaining the critical public health standards that Americans expect."

These proposals represent another step in the Department's efforts to institute real and lasting regulatory reform. Taken together, these ongoing efforts are intended to reduce regulatory burden and promote consensus building with HHS' partners. [Fact sheets on further reinvention efforts are available.]

FDA will propose to eliminate 941 pages of regulation that it has determined are obsolete or no longer achieve public health goals (735 pages require congressional approval). In addition, FDA plans to revise or modify an additional 1,170 pages of regulation to ease the burden on regulated industries and consumers without sacrificing public health protection. HCFA will propose to eliminate 397 pages and revise an additional 525 pages.

In addition to the results of the page-by-page review released today, Shalala spotlighted additional examples of cooperation and coordination with the Department's beneficiaries and partners. In creating a government that works better and costs less, HHS has:

- Eliminated reporting requirements when unnecessary.

Example: HCFA will no longer require the "attestation statements" that physicians had to sign before hospitals could submit claims for payment by Medicare. These statements will be officially abolished on October 1, 1995. Ending this requirement will eliminate 11 million forms a year, saving almost 200,000 hours of physician time and decreasing hospital administrative costs by approximately $22,500 per hospital annually.

- Promoted smart regulation that can lead to cost savings.

Example: Before a regulation issued in July by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the only respirator that met criteria for the prevention of tuberculosis cost the purchaser approximately $8.00. Working closely with the industry, NIOSH developed a revised regulation that provides better protection for workers and increased savings for industry. The first respirators certified under this revised regulation range in price from about $1 to $3, according to the manufacturers' data.

- Proposed grassroots partnerships that give states enhanced flexibility to direct federal money.

Example: As part of HHS' budget request in May, we proposed a new basis for relationships with the states: performance partnerships. The Administration has proposed consolidating more than 100 separate health programs into 6 new partnership grants and 11 consolidated grants. These will offer states greater flexibility in setting priorities and managing their programs.

"Taken together, these regulatory reforms improve services to our customers, strengthen our partnerships with states and local governments and make better use of the public's dollars," Shalala said.

###