Medicare Program; Pioneer Accountable Care Organization Model; Extension of the Submission Deadlines for the Letters of Intent and Applications, 34712-34713 [2011-14678]
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34712
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 114 / Tuesday, June 14, 2011 / Notices
until September 24, 2010, which was
only 6 days prior to the date Colorado
submitted the SPA to CMS. This issue
is whether 6 days is a reasonable time
period to allow for the submission and
consideration of comments.
• Sufficiency of Solicitation: Whether
Colorado met the statutory requirement
at section 1902(a)(73) to solicit advice
when the notice to the tribes did not
describe the potential impact that the
rate reduction for transportation would
have on the tribes, Indians, Indian
health providers, or urban Indian
organizations.
Section 1116 of the Act and Federal
regulations at 42 CFR part 430, establish
Department procedures that provide an
administrative hearing for
reconsideration of a disapproval of a
State plan or plan amendment. CMS is
required to publish a copy of the notice
to a State Medicaid agency that informs
the agency of the time and place of the
hearing, and the issues to be considered.
If we subsequently notify the agency of
additional issues that will be considered
at the hearing, we will also publish that
notice.
Any individual or group that wants to
participate in the hearing as a party
must petition the presiding officer
within 15 days after publication of this
notice, in accordance with the
requirements contained at 42 CFR
430.76(b)(2). Any interested person or
organization that wants to participate as
amicus curiae must petition the
presiding officer before the hearing
begins in accordance with the
requirements contained at 42 CFR
430.76(c). If the hearing is later
rescheduled, the presiding officer will
notify all participants.
The notice to Colorado announcing an
administrative hearing to reconsider the
disapproval of its SPAs reads as follows:
Ms. Laurel Karabotsos,
Acting Medical Director,
Department of Health Care Policy and
Financing,
Medical & CHP+ Administration Office,
1570 Grant Street,
Denver, CO 80203–1818.
Dear Ms. Karabotsos:
I am responding to your request for
reconsideration of Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services’ (CMS) decision to
disapprove the Colorado State Plan
Amendment (SPA) 10–034, which was
submitted to CMS on September 30,
2010, and disapproved on March 10,
2011. The SPA proposed to revise the
methods and standards for establishing
payment rates for non-brokered and
brokered non-emergency medical
transportation. The disapproval was
based on a finding that the State had not
VerDate Mar<15>2010
16:27 Jun 13, 2011
Jkt 223001
complied with the requirements of
section 1902(a)(73)(A) of the Social
Security Act to solicit advice from
designees of Indian Health Programs
and Urban Indian Organizations prior to
submission of a SPA likely to have a
direct effect on Indians, Indian Health
Programs, or Urban Indian
Organizations.
The issues to be considered at the
hearing are:
• Applicability: Whether the statutory
requirement in section 1902(a)(73)(A) of
the Social Security Act (the Act) for
solicitation of advice prior to the
submission of a SPA that is likely to
have a direct effect on Indians, Indian
Health Programs, or Urban Indian
Organizations is applicable to this SPA
when there are significant numbers of
Indian beneficiaries who receive
transportation services, and Indian
Health Programs and Urban Indian
Organizations that are transportation
providers in the State.
• Solicitation of advice: Whether
Colorado met the statutory requirement
at section 1902(a)(73)(A) to solicit
advice when it did not include in any
issuance to Indian health programs and
Urban Indian Organizations prior to the
submission of the SPA any specific
solicitation of advice or comment on the
SPA (or any description of a process for
the submission of comments or
initiation of a dialogue with the State).
• Timing: Whether Colorado met the
statutory requirement at section
1902(a)(73)(A) to solicit advice when it
issued general public notice on June 25,
2010, of the rate reductions that were to
go into effect July 1, 2010, but did not
issue notice to the Indian health
programs or Urban Indian Organizations
until September 24, 2010, which was
only 6 days prior to the date Colorado
submitted the SPA to CMS. This issue
is whether 6 days is a reasonable time
period to allow for the submission and
consideration of comments.
• Sufficiency of Solicitation: Whether
Colorado met the statutory requirement
at section 1902(a)(73) to solicit advice
when the notice to the tribes did not
describe the potential impact that the
rate reduction for transportation would
have on the tribes, Indians, Indian
health providers, or urban Indian
organizations.
I am scheduling a hearing on your
request for reconsideration to be held on
August 4, 2011, at the CMS Denver
Regional Office, Colorado State Bank
Building, 1600 Broadway, Suite 700,
Denver, Colorado 80202–4367, in order
to reconsider the decision to disapprove
SPA 10–034.
If this date is not acceptable, CMS
rules provide that the hearing date may
PO 00000
Frm 00074
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
be changed by written agreement
between CMS and the State. The hearing
will be governed by the procedures
prescribed by Federal regulations at 42
CFR part 430.
I am designating Mr. Benjamin Cohen
as the presiding officer. If these
arrangements present any problems,
please contact the presiding officer at
(410) 786–3169. In order to facilitate any
communication which may be necessary
between the parties to the hearing,
please notify the presiding officer to
indicate acceptability of the hearing
date that has been scheduled, and to
provide names of the individuals who
will represent the State at the hearing.
Sincerely,
Donald M. Berwick, M.D.
Section 1116 of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. section 1316; 42 CFR
section 430.18)
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
program No. 13.714, Medicaid Assistance
Program.)
Dated: June 8, 2011,
Donald M. Berwick,
Administrator, Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services.
[FR Doc. 2011–14674 Filed 6–13–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services
[CMS–5501–N2]
Medicare Program; Pioneer
Accountable Care Organization Model;
Extension of the Submission
Deadlines for the Letters of Intent and
Applications
Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS.
ACTION: Notice of extension of
deadlines.
AGENCY:
This notice extends the
deadlines for the submission of the
Pioneer Accountable Care Organization
Model letters of intent to June 30, 2011
and the applications to August 19, 2011.
DATES: Letter of Intent Submission
Deadline: Interested organizations must
submit a non-binding letter of intent by
June 30, 2011 as described on the
Innovation Center Web site at https://
innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/
seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/
pioneer-aco.
Application Submission Deadline:
Applications must be postmarked on or
before August 19, 2011. The Pioneer
Accountable Care Organization Model
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\14JNN1.SGM
14JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 114 / Tuesday, June 14, 2011 / Notices
srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Application is available at: https://
innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/
seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/
pioneer-aco-application/.
ADDRESSES: Applications should be
submitted by mail to the following
address by the date specified in the
DATES section of this notice:
Pioneer ACO Model, Attention: Maria
Alexander, Center for Medicare and
Medicaid Innovation, Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mail
Stop S3–13–05, 7500 Security
Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21244–
1850.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Maria Alexander, (410) 786–4792.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
We are committed to achieving the
three-part aim of better health, better
health care, and lower per-capita costs
for Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s
Health Insurance Program beneficiaries.
One potential mechanism for achieving
this goal is for CMS to partner with
groups of health care providers of
services and suppliers with a
mechanism for shared governance that
have formed an Accountable Care
Organization (ACO) through which they
work together to manage and coordinate
care for a specified group of patients.
We will pursue such partnerships
through two complementary efforts, the
Medicare Shared Savings Program, and
initiatives undertaken by the Center for
Medicare and Medicaid Innovation
(Innovation Center).
The Pioneer ACO Model is an
Innovation Center initiative targeted at
organizations that can demonstrate the
improvements in financial and clinical
performance with respect to the care of
Medicare beneficiaries that are possible
in a mature ACO. To be eligible to
participate in the Pioneer ACO Model,
organizations would ideally already be
coordinating care for a significant
portion of patients under financial risk
sharing contracts and be positioned to
transform both their care and financial
models from fee-for-service to a threepart aim, value based model.
On May 17, 2011, we posted a request
for applications to participate in the
Pioneer ACO Model on the Innovation
Center Web site and we subsequently
published a notice announcing the
request for applications in the May 20,
2011 Federal Register (76 FR 29249).
On the Innovation Center Web site, we
specified that the submission deadline
for the letter of intent was June 10, 2011
and that the application deadline was to
be postmarked on or before July 18,
2011. For more details see the request
VerDate Mar<15>2010
16:27 Jun 13, 2011
Jkt 223001
for application which is available on the
Innovation Center Web site at https://
innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/
seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/
pioneer-aco. However, in the May 20,
2011 notice, we specified that the
submission deadlines were June 10,
2011 and not later than 5 p.m. on July
19, 2011, respectively. Therefore, in the
June 8, 2011 Federal Register (76 FR
33306), we published a correction
notice that corrected our error in the
application submission deadline.
II. Provisions of the Notice
The Innovation Center is committed
to working with stakeholders to develop
initiatives to test innovative payment
and service delivery models to reduce
program expenditures while enhancing
the quality of care available to
beneficiaries. Being responsive to the
suggestions of the stakeholder
community is critical to the success of
the Innovation Center’s efforts to
achieve the three-part aim of better
healthcare, better health, and reduced
costs through improvement. As part of
this commitment, and based on the
feedback from the community of
potential applicants, the Innovation
Center is extending the following
deadlines relating to the Pioneer ACO
Model: (1) The deadline for submission
of the letter of intent has been extended
to June 30, 2011; and (2) the deadline
for the submission of the application
has been extended to August 19, 2011.
Therefore in the DATES section of this
notice, we included the new
submissions deadlines and in the
ADDRESSES section we provide the
address to which the applications must
be mailed.
Authority: Section 1115A of the Social
Security Act.
Dated: June 8, 2011.
Donald M. Berwick,
Administrator, Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services.
[FR Doc. 2011–14678 Filed 6–9–11; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4120–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services
[CMS–7031–NC3]
Proposed Establishment of a Federally
Funded Research and Development
Center—Third Notice
Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS), Department
of Health & Human Services (DHHS).
AGENCY:
PO 00000
Frm 00075
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
ACTION:
34713
Notice.
This notice announces our
intention to sponsor Federally Funded
Research and Development Center
(FFRDC) to facilitate the modernization
of business processes and supporting
systems and their operations. This is the
third of three notices which must be
published over a 90-day period in order
to advise the public of the agency’s
intention to sponsor an FFRDC.
DATES: We must receive comments on or
before July 5, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Comments on this notice
must be mailed to the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services, Candice
Savoy, Contracting Officer, 7500
Security Boulevard, Mailstop C2–01–10,
Baltimore, MD 21244 or e-mail at
Candice.Savoy@cms.hhs.gov.
SUMMARY:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Candice Savoy, (410) 786–7494 or
Candice.Savoy@cms.hhs.gov.
The
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS), an operating division
within the Department of Health and
Human Services (DHHS), intends to
sponsor a Federally Funded Research
and Development Center (FFRDC) to
facilitate the modernization of business
processes and supporting systems and
their operations. Some of the broad task
areas that will be utilized include
strategic/tactical planning, conceptual
planning, design and engineering,
procurement assistance, organizational
planning, research and development,
continuous process improvement,
Independent Verification and Validation
(IV&V)/compliance, and security
planning. Further analysis will consist
of expert advice and guidance in the
areas of program and project
management focused on increasing the
effectiveness and efficiency of strategic
information management, prototyping,
demonstrations, and technical activities.
The FFRDC may also be utilized by nonsponsors, within DHHS.
The FFRDC will be established under
the Federal Acquisition Regulations (48
CFR 35.017).
The FFRDC will be available to
provide a wide range of support
including, but not limited to:
• Strategic/tactical planning
including assisting with planning for
future CMS program policy, innovation,
development, and support for Medicare
and Medicaid.
• Conceptual planning including
operations, analysis, requirements,
procedures, and analytic support.
• Design and engineering including
technical architecture direction.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
E:\FR\FM\14JNN1.SGM
14JNN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 114 (Tuesday, June 14, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34712-34713]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-14678]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
[CMS-5501-N2]
Medicare Program; Pioneer Accountable Care Organization Model;
Extension of the Submission Deadlines for the Letters of Intent and
Applications
AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS.
ACTION: Notice of extension of deadlines.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice extends the deadlines for the submission of the
Pioneer Accountable Care Organization Model letters of intent to June
30, 2011 and the applications to August 19, 2011.
DATES: Letter of Intent Submission Deadline: Interested organizations
must submit a non-binding letter of intent by June 30, 2011 as
described on the Innovation Center Web site at https://innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/pioneer-aco.
Application Submission Deadline: Applications must be postmarked on
or before August 19, 2011. The Pioneer Accountable Care Organization
Model
[[Page 34713]]
Application is available at: https://innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/pioneer-aco-application/.
ADDRESSES: Applications should be submitted by mail to the following
address by the date specified in the DATES section of this notice:
Pioneer ACO Model, Attention: Maria Alexander, Center for Medicare and
Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mail
Stop S3-13-05, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21244-1850.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maria Alexander, (410) 786-4792.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
We are committed to achieving the three-part aim of better health,
better health care, and lower per-capita costs for Medicare, Medicaid,
and Children's Health Insurance Program beneficiaries. One potential
mechanism for achieving this goal is for CMS to partner with groups of
health care providers of services and suppliers with a mechanism for
shared governance that have formed an Accountable Care Organization
(ACO) through which they work together to manage and coordinate care
for a specified group of patients. We will pursue such partnerships
through two complementary efforts, the Medicare Shared Savings Program,
and initiatives undertaken by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid
Innovation (Innovation Center).
The Pioneer ACO Model is an Innovation Center initiative targeted
at organizations that can demonstrate the improvements in financial and
clinical performance with respect to the care of Medicare beneficiaries
that are possible in a mature ACO. To be eligible to participate in the
Pioneer ACO Model, organizations would ideally already be coordinating
care for a significant portion of patients under financial risk sharing
contracts and be positioned to transform both their care and financial
models from fee-for-service to a three-part aim, value based model.
On May 17, 2011, we posted a request for applications to
participate in the Pioneer ACO Model on the Innovation Center Web site
and we subsequently published a notice announcing the request for
applications in the May 20, 2011 Federal Register (76 FR 29249). On the
Innovation Center Web site, we specified that the submission deadline
for the letter of intent was June 10, 2011 and that the application
deadline was to be postmarked on or before July 18, 2011. For more
details see the request for application which is available on the
Innovation Center Web site at https://innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/pioneer-aco. However, in the
May 20, 2011 notice, we specified that the submission deadlines were
June 10, 2011 and not later than 5 p.m. on July 19, 2011, respectively.
Therefore, in the June 8, 2011 Federal Register (76 FR 33306), we
published a correction notice that corrected our error in the
application submission deadline.
II. Provisions of the Notice
The Innovation Center is committed to working with stakeholders to
develop initiatives to test innovative payment and service delivery
models to reduce program expenditures while enhancing the quality of
care available to beneficiaries. Being responsive to the suggestions of
the stakeholder community is critical to the success of the Innovation
Center's efforts to achieve the three-part aim of better healthcare,
better health, and reduced costs through improvement. As part of this
commitment, and based on the feedback from the community of potential
applicants, the Innovation Center is extending the following deadlines
relating to the Pioneer ACO Model: (1) The deadline for submission of
the letter of intent has been extended to June 30, 2011; and (2) the
deadline for the submission of the application has been extended to
August 19, 2011. Therefore in the DATES section of this notice, we
included the new submissions deadlines and in the ADDRESSES section we
provide the address to which the applications must be mailed.
Authority: Section 1115A of the Social Security Act.
Dated: June 8, 2011.
Donald M. Berwick,
Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
[FR Doc. 2011-14678 Filed 6-9-11; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P