View Rule

The Catastrophic Health Emergency Fund (CHEF) pays for extraordinary medical costs associated with treatment of victims of disasters or catastrophic illnesses. CHEF is used to reimburse PRC programs for high cost cases (e.g., burn victims, motor vehicle accidents, high risk obstetrics, cardiology, etc.). The 2016 proposed rule established conditions and procedures for payment from the fund.  During the 2016 comment period for the NPRM, several Tribes and Tribal Organizations expressed concern about provisions in the NRPM related to coordination with Tribal self-insurance as an alternate resource. In response to those concerns, the IHS engaged in additional Tribal consultation and decided to delay moving forward with the 2016 NPRM pending the resolution of relevant litigation. On January 29, 2021, IHS issued a Dear Tribal Leader Letter to clarify that the proposed rule should not be relied upon and that IHS will be moving forward by publishing a new proposed rule in the near future. A copy of the Dear Tribal Leader Letter concerning next steps for the CHEF regulations is available on the IHS website at:

https://www.ihs.gov/sites/newsroom/themes/responsive2017/display_objects/documents/2021_Letters/DTLL_01292021.pdf.