Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Correction, 9482-9483 [2016-03922]

Download as PDF 9482 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 37 / Thursday, February 25, 2016 / Notices Section 1865(a)(1) of the Act provides that, if the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) finds that accreditation of a provider entity by an approved national accreditation organization meets or exceeds all applicable Medicare conditions or requirements, we may ‘‘deem’’ the provider entity to be in compliance. Accreditation by an accrediting organization is voluntary and is not required for Medicare participation. Part 488, subpart A implements the provisions of section 1865 of the Act. It requires that a national accrediting organization applying for approval of its Medicare accreditation program must provide CMS with reasonable assurance that the accrediting organization requires its accredited provider or supplier entities to meet requirements that are at least as stringent as the Medicare conditions. Our regulations concerning the approval of accrediting organizations are set forth at § 488.5. The regulations at § 488.5(e)(2)(i) require an accrediting organization to reapply for continued approval of its Medicare accreditation program every 6 years or sooner as determined by CMS. The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF’s) current term of approval for their RHC accreditation program expires March 23, 2016. II. Application Approval Process Section 1865(a)(3)(A) of the Act requires that we publish, within 60 days of receipt of an organization’s complete application, a notice identifying the national accreditation body making the request, describing the nature of the request, and providing at least a 30-day public comment period. We have 210 days after the date of receipt of a complete application to publish a notice announcing our approval or denial of an application. mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES III. Provisions of the Proposed Notice On September 25, 2015, we published a proposed notice in the Federal Register (80 FR 57822) entitled, ‘‘Application from the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities for Continued Approval of its Rural Health Accreditation Program.’’ In that notice, we detailed our evaluation criteria. Under section 1865(a)(2) of the Act and in our regulations at § 488.5, we conducted a review of AAAASF’s Medicare RHC accreditation application in accordance with the criteria specified by our regulations, which include, but are not limited to the following: VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:07 Feb 24, 2016 Jkt 238001 • An onsite administrative review of AAAASF’s: (1) Corporate policies; (2) financial and human resources available to accomplish the proposed surveys; (3) procedures for training, monitoring, and evaluating its RHC surveyors; (4) ability to investigate and respond appropriately to complaints against accredited RHCs; and, (5) survey review and decisionmaking process for accreditation. • The comparison of AAAASF’s Medicare accreditation program standards to our current Medicare RHC conditions for certification. • A documentation review of AAAASF’s survey process to: ++ Determine the composition of the survey team, surveyor qualifications, and AAAASF’s ability to provide continuous surveyor training. ++ Compare AAAASF’s processes to those we require of State survey agencies, including periodic resurvey and the ability to investigate and respond appropriately to complaints against accredited RHCs. ++ Evaluate AAAASF’s procedures for monitoring RHCs it has found to be out of compliance with AAAASF’s program requirements. (This pertains only to monitoring procedures when AAAASF identifies non-compliance. If noncompliance is identified by a State survey agency through a validation survey, the State survey agency monitors corrections as specified at § 488.9(c)(1).) ++ Assess AAAASF’s ability to report deficiencies to the surveyed RHC and respond to the RHC’s plan of correction in a timely manner. ++ Establish AAAASF’s ability to provide CMS with electronic data and reports necessary for effective validation and assessment of the organization’s survey process. ++ Determine the adequacy of AAAASF’s staff and other resources. ++ Confirm AAAASF’s ability to provide adequate funding for performing required surveys. ++ Confirm AAAASF’s policies with respect to surveys being unannounced. ++ Obtain AAAASF’s agreement to provide CMS with a copy of the most current accreditation survey together with any other information related to the survey as we may require, including corrective action plans. In accordance with section 1865(a)(3)(A) of the Act, the September 25, 2015 proposed notice also solicited public comments regarding whether AAAASF’s requirements met or exceeded the Medicare conditions for certification for RHCs. We received no public comments in response to our proposed notice. PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 IV. Provisions of the Final Notice A. Differences Between AAAASF’s Standards and Requirements for Accreditation and Medicare Conditions and Survey Requirements We compared AAAASF’s RHC accreditation requirements and survey process with the Medicare conditions for certification at part 491, subpart A and the survey and certification process requirements at parts 488 and 489. We reviewed AAAASF’s RHC accreditation program application as described in section III of this final notice. In response to our request AAAASF revised its standards and certification processes to ensure that its surveyors complete the required number of medical record reviews for each accredited facility. B. Term of Approval Based on our review and observations described in section III of this final notice, we approve AAAASF as a national accreditation organization for RHCs that request participation in the Medicare program, effective March 23, 2016 through March 23, 2022. V. Collection of Information Requirements This document does not impose information collection requirements, that is, reporting, recordkeeping or third-party disclosure requirements. Consequently, there is no need for review by the Office of Management and Budget under the authority of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Dated: February 9, 2016. Andrew M. Slavitt, Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. [FR Doc. 2016–04092 Filed 2–24–16; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4120–01–P DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [Document Identifier: CMS–10599] Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Correction ACTION: Notice; Correction. On Wednesday, February 10, 2016 (81 FR 7124), the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Notice document titled ‘‘Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request’’. That notice invited SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\25FEN1.SGM 25FEN1 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 37 / Thursday, February 25, 2016 / Notices public comments on four separate information collection requests. Through the publication of this correction document, we are notifying the public that we are no longer requesting or accepting public comments on the information collection request that published on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 (81 FR 7124), and is titled ‘‘Medicare Prior Authorization of Home Health Services Demonstration.’’ Form number: CMS–10599 (OMB control number: 0938—New). All public comments regarding CMS–10599 should be submitted via the instructions listed in the original notice. The original notice for CMS–10599 published on Friday, February 5, 2016 (81 FR 6275). The original 60-day comment period for the notice that published on February 5, 2016 (81 FR 6275) remains in effect and ends on April 5, 2016. Dated: February 19, 2016. William N. Parham, III, Director, Paperwork Reduction Staff, Office of Strategic Operations and Regulatory Affairs. [FR Doc. 2016–03922 Filed 2–24–16; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4120–01–P DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS–7040–N] Health Insurance MarketplaceSM, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program; Meeting of the Advisory Panel on Outreach and Education (APOE) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS. AGENCY: ACTION: Notice of meeting. This notice announces the new meeting of the Advisory Panel on Outreach and Education (APOE) (the Panel) in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The Panel advises and makes recommendations to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of Health Insurance MarketplaceSM,1 Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) consumer education mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES SUMMARY: 1 Health Insurance MarketplaceSM and MarketplaceSM are service marks of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:07 Feb 24, 2016 Jkt 238001 strategies. This meeting is open to the public. DATES: Meeting Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2016, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. eastern daylight time (e.d.t.). Deadline for Meeting Registration, Presentations, Special Accommodations and Comments: Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 5:00 p.m., eastern standard time (e.s.t.). ADDRESSES: Meeting Location: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue SW., Room 425A, Conference Room, Washington, DC 20201. Presentations and Written Comments: Presentations and written comments should be submitted to: Abigail Huffman, Designated Federal Official (DFO), Division of Forum and Conference Development, Office of Communications, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 7500 Security Boulevard, Mailstop S1 05–06, Baltimore, MD 21244 1850 or via email at Abigail.Huffman1@cms.hhs.gov. Registration: The meeting is open to the public, but attendance is limited to the space available. Persons wishing to attend this meeting must register at the Web site https://www.regonline.com/ apoemar2016meeting or by contacting the DFO as listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice, by the date listed in the DATES section of this notice. Individuals requiring sign language interpretation or other special accommodations should contact the DFO at the address listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice by the date listed in the DATES section of this notice. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Abigail Huffman, Designated Federal Official, Office of Communications, CMS, 7500 Security Boulevard, Mail Stop S1–05–06, Baltimore, MD 21244, 410–786–0897, email Abigail.Huffman1@cms.hhs.gov. Additional information about the APOE is available on the Internet at: https:// www.cms.gov/Regulations-andGuidance/Guidance/FACA/APOE.html. Press inquiries are handled through the CMS Press Office at (202) 690–6145. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Background The Advisory Panel for Outreach and Education (APOE) (the Panel) is governed by the provisions of Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (Pub. L. 92–463), as amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), which sets forth standards for the formation and use of federal advisory committees. The Panel is PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 9483 authorized by section 1114(f) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1314(f)) and section 222 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 217a). The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (the Secretary) signed the charter establishing the Citizen’s Advisory Panel on Medicare Education 2 (the predecessor to the APOE) on January 21, 1999 (64 FR 7899, February 17, 1999) to advise and make recommendations to the Secretary and the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the effective implementation of national Medicare education programs, including with respect to the Medicare+Choice (M+C) program added by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105–33). The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) (Pub. L. 108–173) expanded the existing health plan options and benefits available under the M+C program and renamed it the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. We have had substantial responsibilities to provide information to Medicare beneficiaries about the range of health plan options available and better tools to evaluate these options. The successful MA program implementation required CMS to consider the views and policy input from a variety of private sector constituents and to develop a broad range of public-private partnerships. In addition, Title I of the MMA authorized the Secretary and the Administrator of CMS (by delegation) to establish the Medicare prescription drug benefit. The drug benefit allows beneficiaries to obtain qualified prescription drug coverage. In order to effectively administer the MA program and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, we have substantial responsibilities to provide information to Medicare beneficiaries about the range of health plan options and benefits available, and to develop better tools to evaluate these plans and benefits. The Affordable Care Act (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pub. L. 111–148, and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111–152) expanded the availability of other options for health care coverage and enacted a number of changes to Medicare as well as to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Qualified individuals and qualified employers are 2 We note that the Citizens’ Advisory Panel on Medicare Education is also referred to as the Advisory Panel on Medicare Education (65 FR 4617). The name was updated in the Second Amended Charter approved on July 24, 2000. E:\FR\FM\25FEN1.SGM 25FEN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 37 (Thursday, February 25, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9482-9483]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-03922]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

[Document Identifier: CMS-10599]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Correction

ACTION: Notice; Correction.

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SUMMARY: On Wednesday, February 10, 2016 (81 FR 7124), the Centers of 
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Notice document titled 
``Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request''. That notice invited

[[Page 9483]]

public comments on four separate information collection requests. 
Through the publication of this correction document, we are notifying 
the public that we are no longer requesting or accepting public 
comments on the information collection request that published on 
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 (81 FR 7124), and is titled ``Medicare 
Prior Authorization of Home Health Services Demonstration.'' Form 
number: CMS-10599 (OMB control number: 0938--New). All public comments 
regarding CMS-10599 should be submitted via the instructions listed in 
the original notice. The original notice for CMS-10599 published on 
Friday, February 5, 2016 (81 FR 6275). The original 60-day comment 
period for the notice that published on February 5, 2016 (81 FR 6275) 
remains in effect and ends on April 5, 2016.

    Dated: February 19, 2016.
William N. Parham, III,
Director, Paperwork Reduction Staff, Office of Strategic Operations and 
Regulatory Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2016-03922 Filed 2-24-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4120-01-P

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