CLAS Standard Public Comment

The US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health is seeking public input from individuals and professional communities across the country for the CLAS (Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services) Standards Enhancement Initiative.  This initiative is an effort to make enhancements to the National Standards for CLAS in Health Care, first released in 2000.  The goal of the enhancement process is to maximize access in gathering public input and stakeholder dialogue to ensure that the CLAS Standards serve the health needs of everyone. 

To submit your comments electronically or attend a public comment session, go to: https://clasenhancements.thinkculturalhealth.org/. 

To access a copy of the CLAS Standards, go to: http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.aspx?lvl=2&lvlID=15

For more information, please contact Leslie Swann at Leslie.Swann@aoa.hhs.gov or 202-357-3453.   

Government Auditing Standards: 2010 Exposure Draft

Image via WikipediaAugust 2010

TO AUDIT OFFICIALS AND OTHERS INTERESTED IN GOVERNMENT AUDITING STANDARDS

GAO invites your comments on the accompanying proposed changes to Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), commonly known as the “Yellow Book.” This letter describes the process used by GAO for revising GAGAS, summarizes the proposed major changes, discusses proposed effective dates, and provides instructions for submitting comments on the proposed standards.

Process for Revising GAGAS

To help ensure that the standards continue to meet the needs of the audit community and the public it serves, the Comptroller General of the United States appointed the Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards to review the standards and recommend necessary changes.
The Advisory Council includes experts in financial and performance auditing drawn from federal, state, and local government, the private sector, public accounting, and academia. This exposure draft includes the Advisory Council’s input regarding the proposed changes. We are currently requesting public comments on the proposed revisions in the exposure draft.

Summary of Major Changes

The proposed revision to GAGAS will be the sixth since GAO first issued the standards in 1972. The proposed changes contained in the 2010 Exposure Draft update GAGAS to reflect major developments in the accountability and audit profession and emphasize specific considerations applicable to the government environment.

The major changes in the proposed revision were made to:
•  consolidate and reorganize the foundation and ethical principles for government audits and the standards for use and application of GAGAS (chapters 1 and 2);
•  add a conceptual framework approach for independence (chapter 3);
•  update the financial audit standards to  (1) reflect recent updates to the auditing standards issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), where applicable, (2) more clearly identify the GAGAS requirements and guidance that supplement AICPA requirements for financial audits, and (3) consolidate the financial audit standards into a single chapter (chapter 4);

Enclosure 1 to this letter contains a more comprehensive listing of the major changes.

 Effective Dates

When issued in final form, the 2011 revision will supersede the July 2007 revision of the standards and the guidance provided in Government Auditing Standards: Answers to Independence Standard Questions (GAO-02-870G). The effective date for the 2011 revision of GAGAS will be established when the standards are issued in final form.

 Instructions for Commenting

The draft of the proposed changes to Government Auditing Standards, 2010 Exposure Draft, is only available in electronic format and can be downloaded from GAO’s Yellow Book Web Page at http://www.gao.gov/govaud/ybk01.htm.

We are requesting comments on this draft from audit officials and financial management at all levels of government, the public accounting profession, academia, professional organizations, public interest groups, and other interested parties. To assist you in developing your comments, specific issues are presented in enclosure 2 to this letter.

We encourage you to comment on these issues and any additional issues that you note. Please associate your comments with specific references to question numbers in the enclosure and/or paragraph numbers in the proposed standards and provide your rationale for any suggested changes, along with suggested revised language. Please send your comments electronically to yellowbook@gao.gov no later than November 22, 2010.

If you need additional information please call Michael Hrapsky, Specialist, Auditing Standards, at (202) 512-9535, or Jim Dalkin, Director, at (202) 512-3133.

Sincerely yours,

Jeanette M. Franzel
Managing Director
Financial Management and Assurance
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National Fire Protection Association (NFPA): Proposes To Revise Codes & Standards

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) proposes to revise some of its safety codes and standards and requests proposals from the public to amend existing or begin the process of developing new NFPA safety codes and standards. The purpose of this request is to increase public participation in the system used by NFPA to develop its codes and standards. DATES: Interested persons may submit proposals on or before the dates listed with the standards. (See table in the Federal Register notice) Following the Call for Proposals period, the Technical Committee holds a meeting to consider and accept, reject or revise, in whole or in part, all the submitted Proposals. The committee may also develop its own Proposals. A document known as the Report on Proposals, or ROP, is prepared containing all the Public Proposals, the Technical Committee's action and each Proposal, as well as all Committee-generated Proposals. The ROP is then submitted for the approval of the Technical Committee by a formal written ballot. If the ROP does not receive approval by a two-thirds vote calculated in accordance with NFPA rules, the Report is returned to the committee for further consideration and is not published. If the necessary approval is received, the ROP is published in a compilation of Reports on Proposals issued by NFPA twice yearly for public review and comment, and the process continues to the next step. The Reports on Proposals are sent automatically free of charge to all who submitted proposals and each respective committee member, as well as anyone else who requests a copy. All ROPs are also available for free downloading at http://www.nfpa.org. Once the ROP becomes available, there is a 60-day comment period during which anyone may submit a Public Comment on the proposed changes in the ROP. The committee then reconvenes at the end of the comment period and acts on all Comments.

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA): Request for Comments

Since 1896, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has accomplished its mission by advocating scientifically based consensus codes and standards, research, and education for safety related issues. NFPA's National Fire Codes[supreg], which holds over 270 documents, are administered by more than 225 Technical Committees comprised of approximately 7,000 volunteers and are adopted and used throughout the world. NFPA is a nonprofit membership organization with approximately 80,000 members from over 70 nations, all working together to fulfill the Association's mission.

The NFPA process provides ample opportunity for public participation in the development of its codes and standards. All NFPA codes and standards are revised and updated every three to five years in Revision Cycles that begin twice each year and that take approximately two years to complete. Each Revision Cycle proceeds according to a published schedule that includes final dates for all major events in the process. The process contains five basic steps that are followed both for developing new documents as well as revising existing documents. These steps are:

• Calling for Proposals;
• Publishing the Proposals in the Report on Proposals;
• Calling for Comments on the Committee's disposition of the Proposals and these Comments are published in the Report on Comments;
• having a Technical Report Session at the NFPA Annual Meeting; and finally,
• the Standards Council Consideration and Issuance of documents.

The purpose of this notice is to request comments on the technical reports that will be published in the NFPA's 2009 Fall Revision Cycle.

DATES:

Sixty reports are published in the 2009 Fall Revision Cycle Report on Proposals and will be available on December 29, 2008.

Comments received on or before March 6, 2009, will be considered by the respective NFPA Committees before final action is taken on the proposals.

HR 7139: Lower Qualification Requirements for Nursing Home Food Service Supervisor

September 26, 2008 - Introduced by Rep. David Davis [R-TN] and referred to House Energy and Commerce Committee In General- Sections 1819(b)(4)(A) and 1919(b)(4)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i-3(b)(4)(A), 1396r(b)(4)(A)) are each amended by adding at the end the following: ‘With respect to meeting the staffing requirement imposed by the Secretary to carry out clause (iv), the full-time director of food services of the facility, if not a qualified dietitian (as defined in section 483.35(a)(2) of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect as of the date of the enactment of this section), shall be a Certified Dietary Manager meeting the requirements of the Certifying Board for Dietary Managers or have equivalent military or academic qualifications (as specified by the Secretary).’.

H.R. 6898, To promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology

Health-e Information Technology Act of 2008 (Introduced in House September 15, 2008) The legislation will create an Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, HIT Advisory Committee, Process for adoption of recommended standards and guidance, application and use of adopted standards by Federal agencies, voluntary application and use of adopted standards by private entities and Health Information Technology Resource Center. Introduced and referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Science and Technology,

Developing National In-Home Caregiver Training Standards

This report incorporates discussion by experts on topics of paid in-home caregiver training standards, including curricula, accreditation, certification, career ladder, and caregiver support.