HHS Announces Policies to Increase Transparency and Reduce Redundant Regulations

By: Yvette Seger
Thursday, December 3, 2020

On November 24, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a policy requiring all resource materials used in impact analyses associated with a regulation or demonstration project be posted to the HHS website upon public release. In a statement from Brian Harrison, HHS Chief of Staff, this additional transparency requires HHS “to show its math so the American people can know and challenge the methods government uses to calculate effects of regulations it imposes on them.” The policy went into effect on November 30.

The Department also issued a policy requiring all HHS entities that prepare regulations to ensure that proposed and existing rules are not redundant, overlapping, or inconsistent. To assist identifying such regulations, HHS issued a Request for Information seeking stakeholder input on (1) how HHS can best eliminate redundant regulations; (2) how HHS can best resolve inconsistent regulations; (3) how HHS can address potential problems caused by overlapping regulations; and (4) challenges faced when trying to comply with redundant, overlapping, or inconsistent HHS regulations and the impact of such challenges. Comments must be received by December 21.