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There should not be any last-minute regulations in the last year of the Obama administration, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

Priority regulations must be submitted no later than this summer if they are meant to be finalized before 2017, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs said in a memo obtained by Bloomberg BNA.

That could be good news for healthcare providers, especially as long-term care continues to wade through its 403-page “mega-rule” proposed rule released last July. The American Health Care Association’s top government lobbyist also said this month that 2016 is expected to be quiet on the legislative front due to the presidential election.

While there is no hard deadline, OIRA has to uphold its standards, administrator Howard Shelanski said. While there may need to be necessary regulatory responses, the goal should be for agencies to focus on what has been published in the regulatory plan and agenda.

“We will not be very receptive to new rules that come out of the blue that aren’t really essential, that aren’t dictated by some kind of changed circumstance, that just pop up toward the end of the administration,” Shelanski told BNA.