How do regulatory agencies implement changes to rural health programs based on federal laws?
Federal agencies that are tasked with enforcing a law addressing rural health may need to further define how the law will be enforced by issuing a regulation. The regulation is first issued as a proposed rule in the Federal Register. A request for comments by a specific deadline is included with the proposed rule. Once comments have been considered, a final rule is issued, again in the Federal Register. Final Rules typically include detailed guidelines for how a law will be enforced, along with the deadlines for parties to meet each aspect of the regulation. The Final Rule will also contain the specific changes to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), which will be effective on the date indicated in the Final Rule, regardless of whether or not they appear in the printed or online version of the CFR. An example of how this process works can be seen in the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act (MMA), which was passed by the U.S. Congress in November 2003 as Public
