§ 15.11 Purpose.

(a) The purpose of this subpart is to implement the notice and hearing procedures applicable to a determination by the Attorney General or the Attorney General's designee under 42 U.S.C. 233(i) that an individual health care provider shall not be deemed an employee of the Public Health Service for purposes of 42 U.S.C. 233(g) or any other statute that confers deemed Public Health Service employee status to which 42 U.S.C. 233(i) has been made applicable. Under 42 U.S.C. 233(i), an individual health care provider who is no longer deemed to be an employee of the Public Health Service is excluded from any malpractice protections otherwise made statutorily available to individuals deemed to be Public Health Service employees. (b) Section 233(i) of title 42 provides that the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, may on the record determine, after notice and an opportunity for a full and fair hearing, that an individual physician or other licensed or certified health care practitioner who is an officer, employee, or contractor of an entity described in 42 U.S.C. 233(g)(4) shall not be deemed to be an employee of the Public Health Service for purposes of 42 U.S.C. 233 if treating such individual as such an employee would expose the Government to an unreasonably high degree of risk of loss.