White House Releases Draft Rules To Ease Burden on Businesses
On Thursday, the Obama administration unveiled draft regulations that officials say would save businesses -- including physician practices and hospitals -- hundreds of millions of dollars annually in operations and administrative costs, the New York Times reports.
The proposed regulations are the product of an executive order that President Obama signed in January, which directed 30 federal agencies to review existing rules and identify those that are outdated, duplicative or "just plain dumb" (Appelbaum, New York Times, 5/26).
In a statement on Wednesday, the White House said the hundreds of regulatory changes the agencies have proposed also would help to cut costs for state and local governments and companies while "maintaining the critical health and safety protections that Americans deserve."
For example, HHS is considering reducing the amount of information that physicians and hospitals must include in medical databases (Fram, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 5/26).
In a speech on Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute, White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Cass Sunstein highlighted some of the results from the agency reviews. He said many of the proposed rule changes are designed to cut paperwork.
However, the Times notes that many of the proposals are "highly technical, bureaucratic or mundane" (New York Times, 5/26). The proposed rule changes will be open for public comment through the summer and will be revised to reflect any suggestions (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 5/26).
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