Meetings: Citizen's Health Care Working Group,

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Federal Register: November 3, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 212)NoticesPage 66836-66837From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

DOCID:fr03no05-54

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Meeting of the Citizens' Health Care Working Group

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), HHS.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY: In accordance with section 10(a) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, this notice announces a meeting of the Citizens' Health Care Working Group (the Working Group) mandated by section 1014 of the Medicare Modernization Act.

DATES: The Business meeting of the Working Group will be held on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 from 2:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and continue on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will take place at the Tremont Park Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. The Tremont Park Hotel is located at 8 East Pleasant Street.

The meeting is open to the public.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Caroline Taplin, Citizens' Health Care Working Group, at (301) 443-1514 or ctaplin@ahrq.gov. If sign language interpretation or other reasonable accommodation for a disability is needed, please contact Mr. Donald L. Inniss, Director, Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Program, Program Support Center, on (301) 443- 1144.

The agenda for this Working Group meeting will be available on the Citizens' Working Group Web site, http://www.citizenshealthcare.gov. Also

available at that site is a roster of Working Group members. When transcripts of the Group's November 15th-16th meeting is completed, it will also be available on the Web site.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 1014 of Public Law 108-173, (known as the Medicare Modernization Act) directs the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), acting through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to establish a Citizens' Health Care Working Group (Citizen Group). This statutory provision, codified at 42 U.S.C. 299 n., directs the Working Group to: (1) Identify options for changing our health care system so that every American has the ability to obtain quality, affordable health care coverage; (2) provide for a nationwide public debate about improving the health care system; and (3) submit its recommendations to the President and the Congress.

The Citizens' Health Care Working Group is composed of 15 members: the Secretary of DHHS is designated as a member by statute and the Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was directed to name the remaining 14 members whose appointments were announced on February 28, 2005.

Working Group Meeting Agenda

The Working Group business meeting on November 15th and 16th will be devoted to ongoing Working Group business. Topics to be addressed are expected to include: Working Group partners, plans for community meetings and other activities to engage the public, questions to be asked in public engagement activities, and the process for developing recommendations.

[Page 66837]Submission of Written Information

The Working Group invites written submissions on those topics to be addressed at the Working Group business meeting listed above. In general, individuals or organizations wishing to provide written information for consideration by the Citizens' Health Care Working Group should submit information electronically to citizenshealth@ahrq.gov. Since all electronic submissions will be

posted on the Working Group Web site, separate submissions by topic will facilitate review of ideas submitted on each topic by the Working Group and the public.

Carolyn M. Clancy, Director.

FR Doc. 05-21863 Filed 11-1-05; 11:42 amBILLING CODE 4160-90-M

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