The Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has extended the current compliance audit moratorium for “TRICARE” subcontractors for two more years, through May 7, 2021. The current moratorium was scheduled to expire on May 7, 2019.
Per a new directive dated May 18, 2018, and signed by OFCCP Director Ondray Harris, “OFCCP has determined that it would be beneficial to the national interest and the health of veterans and their families to extend the moratorium to provide additional time to receive feedback from stakeholders.”
The new directive follows closely on the heels of an announcement contained in the Labor Department’s most recent semi-annual regulatory agenda that OFCCP intends to issue a formal notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on the TRICARE issue in April of 2019.
TRICARE is the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) medical insurance and benefit program for active duty and retired military personnel and their families. OFCCP’s jurisdiction over hospitals and other health care organizations providing services to TRICARE beneficiaries has long been a matter of controversy, and OFCCP imposed a five-year audit moratorium in 2014 in response to a strong likelihood that Congress was about to enact a blanket exemption of TRICARE providers.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.