Emergency Request Memo Signed 8.24.21

U.S. Department of Labor

Office of the Assistant Secretary
for Administration and Management
Washington, D.C. 20210

Sharon Block
Acting Administrator
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Office of Management and Budget
725 17th Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20503
Dear Ms. Block:
Pursuant to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) procedures established at 5 CFR Part
1320, Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public, I request that the proposed information
collection, “No Surprises Act (1210-0NEW)” and a revision to “Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act Patient Protection Notice (1210-0142)” be processed as Emergency
Clearance Requests in accordance with section 5 CFR 1320.13, Emergency Processing.
The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA), in conjunction
with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Department of The Treasury, Internal
Revenue Service (IRS), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), issued a joint
Interim Final Rule (IFR), Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part I, on July 13, 2021 (86
FR 36872). The IFR implements provisions of the No Surprises Act. The No Surprises Act was
enacted on December 27, 2020, as title I of Division BB of the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2021. The No Surprises Act establishes new protections from surprise billing and excessive
cost-sharing for consumers receiving health care items and services by. The IFR implements
many of the law’s requirements for group health plans, health insurance issuers, carriers under
the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, health care providers and facilities,
and air ambulance service providers. The requirements in the No Surprises Act apply for plan
years (in the individual market, policy years) beginning on or after January 1, 2022.
Under section 553(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (5 U.S.C. 551 et seq.), a
general notice of proposed rulemaking is not required when an agency finds good cause that
notice and comment procedures are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest
and incorporates a statement of the finding and its reasons in the rule issued. The Secretaries and
OPM Director have determined that it would be impracticable and contrary to the public interest
to delay putting the provisions in these interim final rules in place until after a full public notice
and comment process has been completed. Although this effective date may have allowed for the
regulations, if promulgated with the full notice and comment rulemaking process, to be
applicable in time for the applicability date of the provisions in the No Surprises Act, this
timeframe would not provide sufficient time for the regulated entities to implement the
requirements.
On this legal basis, I have determined that this information must also be collected prior to the
time periods established under Part 1320 of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and that this
information is essential to the mission of EBSA to implement the provisions of the No Surprises
Act.

The Department is hereby requesting that OMB process a 180-day clearance for both the new
ICR “No Surprises Act” (1210-0NEW) and a revision to 1210-0142, Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act Patient Protection Notice.
Please provide your approval/disapproval determination of this request by September 10, 2021.
Respectfully,

Louis Charlier
Deputy Chief Information Officer for Administration and Strategy

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