Six entries in the agency field, four signatures: a joint rule on medical billing disputes
A final rule published on 4 June 2026. Six agencies appear in the data, but only four signed it: the field lists parent departments alongside their component agencies.
Document overview (primary data)
- Document typeRule
- AgencyOffice of Personnel Management
- Citation91 FR 33900
Key points
- A final rule published on 4 June 2026 with six agencies in the data but four signatories.
- The field lists parent departments alongside their component agencies, inflating the count.
- The four signatories enter text into titles 5, 26, 29 and 45 of the code.
- The subject is the Federal independent dispute resolution process under the No Surprises Act.
1The count and the signatures
Up to the previous article this series has taken agency counts at face value. Here the counting itself comes under examination. Six agencies are attached to this document in the data, but four signed the rule.
2Parents counted beside their children
The field carries both a parent department and its component agency. Treasury and the IRS, Labor and EBSA, are each a parent and a child. That is why the count exceeds the number of signatories.
| Signatory | Parent | Where it lands in the code |
|---|---|---|
| Office of Personnel Management | — | 5 CFR Part 890 |
| Internal Revenue Service | Treasury | 26 CFR Part 54 |
| Employee Benefits Security Administration | Labor | 29 CFR Part 2590 |
| Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services | Health and Human Services | 45 CFR Part 149 |
Four signatories place text into four different titles of the code — 5, 26, 29 and 45 — under four identifiers. A single procedure about medical bills is written simultaneously from the civil service, tax, benefits and health insurance sides of the government.
3What the rule sets out
The subject is the operation of the Federal independent dispute resolution process under the No Surprises Act, the mechanism used when a provider and a payer cannot agree on an amount.
The next article takes up five agencies with a single part of the code and a single identifier.
Why it matters
The Federal Register agency field double-counts departments and their bureaus. Any metric built on the number of agencies involved must distinguish signatories from entries, or it will overstate participation.
FAQ
Why do the agency count and the signature count differ?
Why is the rule split across four titles of the code?
What is independent dispute resolution?
Sources (primary)
Source: Federal Register (federal documents, public domain). Links go to the official site.