New Musculoskeletal Listings Could Still Be Axed By Biden Administration

      The thing about those new musculoskeletal Listings published in the Federal Register today is that they are not supposed to become effective until 120 days after publication, April 2, 2021, which will be well after Inauguration Day. The minimum time is 30 days, meaning these could have become effective before Inauguration Day. New regulations which have not yet gone into effect can still be withdrawn. Other new Administrations have put holds on new regulations going into effect until they can be reviewed and some have been withdrawn. I'm sure the 120 days is needed to do staff training and even that is probably rushing it given the difficulty of doing training during the pandemic but it gives the Biden Administration time to withdraw and rewrite the new Listings. Advocacy groups will be urging them to do so. I don't know whether these new Listings will be viewed by the new Administration as normal housekeeping or as a partisan attack on claimants. My strong opinion is that there is nothing in these new Listings that was required by any medical advances. It's entirely and intentionally slanted to cause more denials.