[Federal Register: November 29, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 229)]
[Notices]
[Page 67603-67605]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29no07-33]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
[Document Identifier: CMS-10054, CMS-R-118 and CMS-10246]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request
AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, HHS.
In compliance with the requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services, is publishing
the following summary of proposed collections for public comment.
Interested persons are invited to send comments regarding this burden
estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information,
including any of the following subjects: (1) The necessity and utility
of the proposed information collection for the proper
[[Page 67604]]
performance of the Agency's function; (2) the accuracy of the estimated
burden; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (4) the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology to minimize the
information collection burden.
1. Type of Information Collection Request: Extension without change
of a currently approved collection; Title of Information Collection:
Recognition of payment for new technology services for New Technology
ambulatory payment classification (APC) groups under the Outpatient
Prospective Payment System and Supporting Regulations in 42 CFR part
419; Use: CMS needs to keep pace with emerging new technologies and
make them accessible to Medicare beneficiaries in a timely manner. It
is necessary that CMS continue to collect appropriate information from
interested parties such as hospitals, medical device manufacturers,
pharmaceutical companies and others that bring to CMS' attention
specific services that they wish us to evaluate for New Technology APC
payment. The information that CMS seeks to continue to collect is
necessary to determine whether certain new services are eligible for
payment in New Technology APCs, to determine appropriate coding and to
set an appropriate payment rate for the new technology service. The
intent of these provisions is to ensure timely beneficiary access to
new and appropriate technologies. Interested parties such as hospitals,
device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and physicians use this
information to apply for New Technology APC payments for certain
services covered in the Outpatient Prospective Payment System. Form
Numbers: CMS-10054 (OMB : 0938-0860); Frequency: Reporting--
Once; Affected Public: Business or other for-profits; Number of
Respondents: 15; Total Annual Responses: 15; Total Annual Hours: 180.
2. Type of Information Collection Request: Reinstatement without
change of a previously approved collection; Title of Information
Collection: Quality Improvement (formerly Peer Review) Organization
Contracts: Solicitation of Statements of Interest from In-State
Organizations, General Notice and Supporting Regulations in 42 CFR,
475.102, 475.103, 475.104, 475.105, 475.106; Use: The criteria that an
organization must satisfy in order to be eligible for a Medicare
Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) contract are specified by law
and set forth in sections 1152 and 1153 of the Social Security Act (the
Act). In very basic terms, the applicant organization must demonstrate
that it is either a physician-sponsored or physician-access
organization. The qualifications for in-State status for an otherwise
qualified QIO organization are also set forth in section 1153(i)(3) of
the Act.
To comply with section 1153 of the Act, we must publish the
solicitation of statements of interest from qualified in-State
organizations no later than January 31, 2008. We wish to publish notice
of contract expiration dates and the time periods during which
interested, qualified organizations may submit statements of interest
and proposals for these contracts substantially sooner than the January
2008 deadline, in order to give maximal notice and opportunity to all
qualified and potentially interested organizations. We are soliciting
information in the form of responses to our request for statements of
interest from qualified in-State organizations who may wish to compete
for the QIO contracts for their respective States. The responses should
contain an indication of interest and information demonstrating the
interested organizations' eligibility to qualify as a QIO under the
requirements of sections 1152 and 1153 of the Act. Form Number: CMS-R-
118 (OMB : 0938-0526); Frequency: Reporting--On occasion;
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Number of Respondents:
53; Total Annual Responses: 53; Total Annual Hours: 1.
3. Type of Information Collection Request: New collection; Title of
Information Collection: Cost and Resource Utilization (CRU) Data
Collection for the Medicare Post Acute Care Payment Reform
Demonstration; Use: The CRU data collection is part of the Post-Acute
Care Payment Reform Demonstration mandated by Section 5008 of the
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. This demonstration is intended to
address problems with the current Medicare payment systems for post-
acute care services, including those for Long Term Care Hospitals,
Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities, Skilled Nursing Facilities, and
Home Health Agencies. Each of these four types of providers currently
has a separate prospective payment system (PPS) with its own case-mix
groups, payment units, and rates. Each case-mix grouper uses a unique
set of items to measure patients, making it difficult to compare
severity, costs, and outcomes across settings. These four provider
types form a continuum of care where patients may overlap in terms of
the conditions being treated, but they primarily differ in terms of the
severity of the patients' medical or functional impairments. The
current payment methods are designed as silos that do not recognize the
potential overlap in case mix or the complimentary nature of the
services across an episode, nor does it allow for standardized measures
of costs across settings since each PPS was developed independently
using different measurement systems and underlying assumptions.
The Post-Acute Care Payment Reform Demonstration will examine the
relative costliness and outcomes of post acute cases admitted to
different settings for similar conditions. The work will differ from
past attempts in this area because it will use a standardized case mix
tool for measuring patient severity and a standardized resource data
collection tool in all four post acute settings. Specifically, the
legislation requires that CMS provide information on both the fixed and
variables costs for each individual treated in post acute care
settings.
The CRU data collection instruments are designed to collect a
provider's routine costs to specific patients because in general,
nurses' and many other direct care providers' time spent on behalf of
specific patients and on activities not patient-specific, is not
reported. In addition, charges for therapist services reported on
claims may not sufficiently measure true relative differences in
therapy resource costs among patients. The data will be used, along
with Medicare claims and cost report data, to examine substitution
issues: how do costs and outcomes differ for post acute care patients
with similar case mix acuity when treated in one of the various
settings. The results will be used to provide CMS and the Congress
information on setting-neutral payment models, revisions to single
setting payment systems, current discharge placement patterns, and
patient outcomes across settings.
Since the August 24, 2007, Federal Register notice (72 FR 48645),
we have made minor changes to the CRU instrument in response to public
comments and internal review. The changes are primarily wording changes
and direction clarifications. These changes are not expected to impact
the data collection burden. Form Number: CMS-10246 (OMB :
0938-New); Frequency: Reporting and Recordkeeping; Affected Public:
Private Sector--Business or other for-profits and not-for-profit
institutions; Number of Respondents: 138; Total Annual Responses:
61,589; Total Annual Hours: 28,783.
To obtain copies of the supporting statement and any related forms
for the
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proposed paperwork collections referenced above, access CMS Web site
address at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PaperworkReductionActof1995, or e-
mail your request, including your address, phone number, OMB number,
and CMS document identifier, to Paperwork@cms.hhs.gov, or call the
Reports Clearance Office on (410) 786-1326.
To be assured consideration, comments and recommendations for the
proposed information collections must be received by the OMB desk
officer at the address below, no later than 5 p.m. on December 31,
2007.
OMB Human Resources and Housing Branch, Attention: Carolyn Lovett,
New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, Fax
Number: (202) 395-6974.
Dated: November 21, 2007.
Michelle Shortt,
Director, Regulations Development Group, Office of Strategic Operations
and Regulatory Affairs.
[FR Doc. E7-23163 Filed 11-28-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P