Emergency Justification 1545-2181

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220

TO:

Alex Goodenough, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

FROM:

Ryan Law, Deputy Assistant Secretary
Office of Privacy, Transparency, and Records

SUBJECT:

Justification for Emergency Processing: Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act Patient Protection Notice / OMB Number 1545-2181

Pursuant to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) procedures established at 5 CFR Part
1320, Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public, IRS requests that “Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act Patient Protection Notice (1545-2181)” be processed as Emergency
Clearance Requests in accordance with section 5 CFR 1320.13, Emergency Processing.
The Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service, in conjunction with the Department
of Labor (DOL), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), 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. 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, IRS has 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 Agency is hereby requesting that OMB process a 180-day clearance for a revision to
1545-2181, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Patient Protection Notice.