In January, President Obama ordered his appointees to modify or revoke rules that were outmoded, ineffective or “excessively burdensome.” Republicans in Congress have demanded such changes, arguing that many federal rules have stifled economic growth and job creation.

Many of the new proposals deal with Medicare and Medicaid rules that have not been altered in decades. In general, the proposals do not affect the large number of rules issued under the new health care law, which set detailed standards for coverage offered by insurance companies and employers.

One of the new proposals would allow hospital patients to take certain drugs on their own, with the approval of hospital officials but without immediate supervision by a nurse. A hospital may allow a patient to “self-administer both hospital-issued medications and the patient’s own medications brought into the hospital,” the proposal says. In the past, hospitals have often restricted patients’ ability to give medications to themselves.

Another proposal would relax requirements for hospitals to notify the federal government immediately after the death of any patient who had been confined with certain wrist restraints like those used to prevent patients from harming themselves by pulling out intravenous tubes.

Other proposals would eliminate requirements for hospitals to keep detailed logs of infection control problems and would relieve certain organ transplant centers of the need to certify the blood type of organ donors. Hospitals would still have to investigate outbreaks of infections, and other medical experts would check on donors’ blood type.