Requirements applicable to sterilizations (hysterectomies)--Health Care Financing Administration. Final rule.

Current Department regulations for the Medicaid and Public Health Service programs provide that no Federal funds are available for hysterectomies unless the woman or her representative has signed an acknowledgment that she was informed that the operation would make her sterile. These amended rules eliminate the "acknowledgment requirement" in certain situations where the patient is already sterile or a life-threatening emergency situation exists. The regulations also clarify certain ambiguities. The purpose of these regulations is to remove an unnecessary administrative burden created by the current requirements. The regulations also reinstate a cross-reference, which makes the Medicaid sterilization requirements applicable to the social services block grant. This cross-reference was inadvertently deleted in an earlier publication. States may choose to make the provisions retroactive to March 8, 1979 or any date thereafter through the date of publication of these regulations. These rules may also be effective retroactive to March 8, 1979 or any date thereafter through the date of publication of these regulations for the PHS programs they apply to.