Medicare program; shared-services organizations and cost to related organizations--Health Care Financing Administration. Withdrawal of notices of proposed rulemaking.

This notice withdraws two notices of proposed rulemaking relating to Medicare reimbursement of providers of health care services. Current regulations limit the amount a provider may be reimbursed when it obtains services, facilities, or supplies from an organization to which it is related by common ownership or control. We published two proposed amendments to those regulations. The first would have exempted, from the related organizations regulations, costs incurred by providers for items furnished by certain shared-services organizations. The second proposal would have revised the definition of a related organization and made certain other changes in application of the rules. After considering the responses of the public to the proposed regulations and our own policy analyses, we have concluded that we should retain the flexibility provided by existing regulations and that there is no current need to amend these regulations. We are, therefore, withdrawing the proposals from further action.