Announcement of Requirements and Registration for the 2020 Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge, 8593-8596 [2020-02987]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 31 / Friday, February 14, 2020 / Notices
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Formations of, Acquisitions by, and
Mergers of Bank Holding Companies
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
The companies listed in this notice
have applied to the Board for approval,
pursuant to the Bank Holding Company
Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.)
(BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR part
225), and all other applicable statutes
and regulations to become a bank
holding company and/or to acquire the
assets or the ownership of, control of, or
the power to vote shares of a bank or
bank holding company and all of the
banks and nonbanking companies
owned by the bank holding company,
including the companies listed below.
The applications listed below, as well
as other related filings required by the
Board, if any, are available for
immediate inspection at the Federal
Reserve Bank indicated. The
applications will also be available for
inspection at the offices of the Board of
Governors. Interested persons may
express their views in writing on the
standards enumerated in the BHC Act
(12 U.S.C. 1842(c)).
Comments regarding each of these
applications must be received at the
Reserve Bank indicated or the offices of
the Board of Governors, Ann E.
Misback, Secretary of the Board, 20th
Street and Constitution Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20551–0001, not later
than March 17, 2020.
A. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
(Prabal Chakrabarti, Senior Vice
President) 600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston,
Massachusetts 02210–2204. Comments
can also be sent electronically to
BOS.SRC.Applications.Comments@
bos.frb.org:
1. HB Holdings, MHC, Haverhill,
Massachusetts; to become a mutual
bank holding company upon the
conversion by Haverhill Bank,
Haverhill, Massachusetts, from mutual
to stock form.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, February 11, 2020.
Yao-Chin Chao,
Assistant Secretary of the Board.
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
[FR Doc. 2020–03029 Filed 2–13–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
Disease, Disability, and Injury
Prevention and Control Special
Emphasis Panel (SEP)—DP20–002,
Natural Experiments of the Impact of
Population-Targeted Policies To
Prevent Type 2 Diabetes and Diabetes
Complications; Amended Notice of
Meeting
Notice is hereby given of a change in
the meeting of the Disease, Disability,
and Injury Prevention and Control
Special Emphasis Panel (SEP)—DP20–
002, Natural Experiments of the Impact
of Population-Targeted Policies To
Prevent Type 2 Diabetes and Diabetes
Complications; April 7–9, 2020; 10:00
a.m.–6:00 p.m., (EDT), Teleconference,
which was published in the Federal
Register on Friday, January 10, 2020,
Volume 85, Number 7, pages 1316–
1317.
The meeting is being amended to
change the date and time to April 7–8,
2020, from 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m., EDT.
The meeting is closed to the public.
For Further Information Contact: Jaya
Raman Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer,
CDC, 4770 Buford Highway, Mailstop
F80, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, Telephone:
(770) 488–6511, kva5@cdc.gov.
The Director, Strategic Business
Initiatives Unit, Office of the Chief
Operating Officer, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, has been
delegated the authority to sign Federal
Register notices pertaining to
announcements of meetings and other
committee management activities, for
both the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry.
Kalwant Smagh,
Director, Strategic Business Initiatives Unit,
Office of the Chief Operating Officer, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2020–03018 Filed 2–13–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163–18–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
Announcement of Requirements and
Registration for the 2020 Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Challenge
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS).
AGENCY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:56 Feb 13, 2020
Jkt 250001
PO 00000
Frm 00058
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
ACTION:
8593
Notice.
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) located
within the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) announces the
launch of the 2020 Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Challenge.
DATES: The Challenge will accept
applications from February 21, 2020
through April 6, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Division for Heart Disease and Stroke
Prevention, National Center for Chronic
Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy NE,
Mailstop MS–S107–1, Chamblee, GA
30341, Telephone: 770–488–2424,
Email: millionhearts@cdc.gov; subject
line of email: Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Challenge;
Attention: Mary George.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
Background
Million Hearts is a national initiative
to prevent one million heart attacks and
strokes by 2022. In order to prevent one
million cardiovascular events (e.g., heart
attacks and strokes), we need to
decrease smoking, sodium consumption
and physical inactivity by 20%;
improve performance on quality of care
measures for appropriate aspirin use,
blood pressure control, cholesterol
management, and smoking cessation to
80%; and improve outcomes for priority
populations disproportionately
burdened by cardiovascular disease.
Over the last six years, we have seen
tremendous progress by providers and
health care systems that focus on
improving their performance in
controlling patients’ blood pressure.
Getting to 80% blood pressure control
would mean that 10 million more
Americans with hypertension would
have their blood pressure under control,
and be at substantially lower risk for
strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure,
and other related cardiovascular events.
For more information about the
initiative, visit https://
millionhearts.hhs.gov/. Million Hearts is
a registered trademark of the
Department of Health and Human
Services.
The challenge is an important way to
call attention to the need for improved
hypertension control, provides a
powerful motivation and target for
clinicians, and will improve
understanding of successful
implementation strategies at the health
system level. It will identify clinicians,
clinical practices, and health systems
that have exceptional rates of
E:\FR\FM\14FEN1.SGM
14FEN1
8594
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 31 / Friday, February 14, 2020 / Notices
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
hypertension control and recognize
them as 2020 Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Champions. To
support improved quality of care
delivered to patients with hypertension,
Million Hearts will document the
systems, strategies, processes, and
staffing that contribute to the
exceptional blood pressure control rates
achieved by Champions.
Subject of Challenge Competition:
The challenge is authorized by Public
Law 111–358, the America Creating
Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote
Excellence in Technology, Education
and Science Reauthorization Act of
2010 (COMPETES Act).
Applicants for the 2020 Million
Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge
will be asked to provide two
hypertension control rates for the
practice’s or health system’s
hypertensive population: a current rate
for the most recent 12-month reporting
period (e.g., 1/1/2019–12/31/2019) and
a previous rate for the 12-month period
immediately preceding the most recent
reporting period (e.g., 1/1/2018–12/31/
2018). Applicants will also be asked to
provide the prevalence of hypertension
in their population (more details
provided below), describe some
population characteristics (such as
urban/rural location, percent minority,
percent enrolled in Medicaid, percent
with no health insurance, and percent
whose primary language is not English)
and strategies used by the practice or
health system that support
improvements in blood pressure
control. A copy of the application form
will be available on the Challenge
website for the duration of the
Challenge.
Eligibility Rules for Participating in the
Competition
To be eligible for recognition as a
Million Hearts Hypertension Control
Champion under this challenge, an
individual or entity —
(1) Shall have completed the
application form in its entirety to
participate in the competition under the
rules developed by HHS/CDC;
(2) Shall have complied with all
eligibility requirements and satisfy the
requirements in one of the following
subparts:
a. Be a U.S. licensed clinician (i.e.,
MD, DO, nurse practitioner, or
physician assistant), practicing in any
U.S. setting, who provides ongoing care
for adult patients with hypertension.
The individual must be a citizen or
permanent resident of the U.S.;
b. Be a U.S. incorporated clinical
practice, defined as any practice with
two or more U.S. licensed clinicians
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:56 Feb 13, 2020
Jkt 250001
who by formal arrangement share
responsibility for a common panel of
patients, practice at the same physical
location or street address, and provide
continuing medical care for adult
patients with hypertension;
c. Be a health system, incorporated in
and maintaining a primary place of
business in the U.S., that provides
continuing medical care for adult
patients with hypertension. We
encourage large health systems (those
that are comprised of a large number of
geographically dispersed clinics and/or
have multiple hospital locations) to
consider having one or a few of the
highest performing clinics or regional
affiliates apply individually instead of
the health system applying as a whole;
(3) Must treat all adult patients with
hypertension in the practice, not a
selected subgroup of patients;
(4) Must have a data management
system (electronic or paper) that allows
HHS/CDC or their contractor to verify
data submitted;
(5) Must treat a minimum of 500 adult
patients annually and have a
hypertension control rate (blood
pressure <140 mm Hg systolic and <90
mm Hg diastolic) of at least 80%;
(6) May not be a Federal entity or
Federal employee acting within the
scope of their employment;
(7) An HHS employee must not work
on their application(s) during assigned
duty hours;
(8) Shall not be an employee of or
contractor at CDC;
(9) Must agree to participate in a data
validation process to be conducted by a
reputable independent contractor. Data
will be kept confidential by the
contractor to the extent applicable law
allows and will be shared with the CDC,
in aggregate form only (e.g., the
hypertension control rate for the
practice not individual patients’
hypertension values);
(10) Must agree to sign, without
revisions, a Business Associate
Agreement with the contractor
conducting the data validation.
(11) Must have a written policy in
place about conducting periodic
background checks on all providers and
taking appropriate action based on the
results of the check. CDC’s contractor
may also request to review the policy
and any supporting information deemed
necessary. In addition, a health system
background check will be conducted by
CDC or a CDC contractor that includes
a search for The Joint Commission
sanctions and current investigations for
serious institutional misconduct (e.g.,
attorney general investigation).
Eligibility status, based upon the abovereferenced written policy, appropriate
PO 00000
Frm 00059
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
action, and background check, will be
determined at the discretion of the CDC
consistent with CDC’s public health
mission.
(12) Must agree to be recognized if
selected and agree to participate in an
interview to develop a success story that
describes the systems and processes that
support hypertension control among
patients. Champions will be recognized
on the Million Hearts website. Strategies
used by Champions that support
hypertension control may be written
into a success story, placed on the
Million Hearts website, used in press
releases, publications, and attributed to
Champions.
In addition to meeting the
requirements listed in parts 1–12 above,
to be eligible for recognition in the
challenge, an individual or entity also
must comply with the conditions or
requirements set forth in each of the
following paragraphs in this section.
Federal funds may not be used to
develop COMPETES Act challenge
applications or to fund efforts in
support of a COMPETES Act challenge.
Individual applicants and individuals
in a group practice must be free from
convictions for or pending
investigations of criminal and health
care fraud offenses such as felony health
care fraud, patient abuse or neglect;
felony convictions for other health carerelated fraud, theft, or other financial
misconduct; and felony convictions
relating to unlawful manufacture,
distribution, prescribing, or dispensing
of controlled substances as verified
through the Office of the Inspector
General List of Excluded Individuals
and Organizations at https://oig.hhs.gov/
exclusions/background.asp.
Individual applicants must be free
from serious sanctions, such as those for
misuse or mis-prescribing of
prescription medications. Eligibility
status of individual applicants with
serious sanctions will be determined at
the discretion of CDC. CDC or CDC’s
contractor may perform background
checks on individual clinicians and
medical practices.
Champions previously recognized
through the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017,
2018, and 2019 Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Challenges retain
their designation as a ‘‘Champion’’ and
are not eligible to be named a Champion
in the 2020 challenge.
An individual or organization shall
not be disqualified from the 2020
Million Hearts Hypertension Control
Challenge for utilizing Federal facilities
or consulting with Federal employees
during a competition so long as the
facilities and Federal employees are
made available to all individuals and
E:\FR\FM\14FEN1.SGM
14FEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 31 / Friday, February 14, 2020 / Notices
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
organizations participating in the
competition on an equal basis.
By participating in this challenge, an
individual or organization agrees to
assume any and all risks related to
participating in the challenge.
Individuals or organizations also agree
to waive claims against the Federal
Government and its related entities,
except in the case of willful misconduct,
when participating in the challenge,
including claims for injury; death;
damage; or loss of property, money, or
profits, and including those risks caused
by negligence or other causes.
By participating in this challenge,
individuals and organizations agree to
protect the Federal Government against
third party claims for damages arising
from or related to challenge activities.
Individuals or organizations are not
required to hold liability insurance
related to participation in this
challenge.
No cash prize will be awarded.
Champions will receive national
recognition.
Registration Process for Participants
To participate and submit an
application, interested parties should go
to https://millionhearts.hhs.gov or
https://www.challenge.gov. On this site,
applicants will find the application
form and the rules and guidelines for
participating. Information required of
the applicants on the application form
includes:
• The size of the applicant’s adult
primary care patient population, a
summary of known patient
demographics (e.g., age distribution),
and any noteworthy patient population
characteristics (such as urban/rural
location, percent minority, percent
enrolled in Medicaid, percent with no
health insurance, and percent whose
primary language is not English).
• The number of the applicant’s adult
primary care patients, ages 18–85, who
were seen during the measurement year
and had a hypertension diagnosis (i.e.
hypertension prevalence).
• The applicant’s current
hypertension control rate for their
hypertensive population ages 18–85
during the measurement year is
required. In determining the
hypertension control rate for the 2020
Million Hearts Hypertension Control
Challenge, CDC defines ‘‘hypertension
control’’ as a blood pressure reading
<140 mmHg systolic and <90 mmHg
diastolic among patients ages 18–85
with a diagnosis of hypertension.
• The hypertension control rate
should be for the provider’s or health
system’s entire adult hypertensive
patient population ages 18–85, and not
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:56 Feb 13, 2020
Jkt 250001
limited to a sample. The provider’s or
health system’s hypertensive population
ages 18–85 should include only patients
in primary care or in cardiology care in
the case of a cardiology clinic. Patients
seen only in dental care or behavioral
health care should not be included.
Examples of ineligible data submissions
include hypertension control rates that
are limited to treatment cohorts from
research studies or pilot studies,
patients limited to a specific age range
(such as 18–35 only), or patients
enrolled in limited scale quality
improvement projects.
• Completion of a checklist of
sustainable clinic systems or processes
that support hypertension control.
These may include provider or patient
incentives, dashboards, staffing
characteristics, electronic record
keeping systems, reminder or alert
systems, clinician reporting, service
modifications, etc.
The estimated burden for completing
the application form is 30 minutes.
Amount of the Prize
Up to 35 of the highest scoring
clinical practices or health systems will
be recognized as Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Champions. No
cash prize will be awarded. Champions
will receive national recognition
through the Million Hearts initiative.
Basis Upon Which Champions Will Be
Selected
The application will be scored based
on two hypertension control rates: one
for your most recent 12-month reporting
period ending not earlier than December
31, 2019, and consistency with a
previous rate for the 12-month period
beginning 1 year before the current
period.
Phase 1 includes verification of the
hypertension prevalence and blood
pressure control rate data submitted and
a background check. For applicants
whose Phase 1 data is verified as
accurate and who pass the background
check without concerns, phase 2
consists of a medical chart review. The
medical chart review will verify the
diagnosis of hypertension during the
reporting year as well as blood pressure
being controlled to <140 mmHg systolic
and <90 mmHg diastolic. The estimated
time for the data verification and
validation is two hours.
A CDC-sponsored panel of three to
five experts consisting of CDC staff will
review the applications that pass phase
2 to select Champions. Final selection of
Champions will consider all the
information from the application form,
the background check, data verification
and medical chart validation, and final
PO 00000
Frm 00060
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
8595
verified hypertension control rate. In the
event of tied scores based on the
hypertension control rate at any point in
the selection process, geographic
location may be considered to ensure a
broad distribution of champions.
Selected Champions will be notified by
phone or email.
Some Champions may participate in a
post-challenge telephone interview. The
interview will include questions about
the strategies employed by the
individual practice or organization to
achieve high rates of hypertension
control, including barriers and
facilitators for those strategies. The
interview will focus on systems and
processes and should not require
preparation time by the Champion. The
estimated time for the interview is one
hour, which includes time to review the
interview protocol with the interviewer,
respond to the interview questions, and
review a summary about the
Champion’s practices. The summary
may be written as a success story and
will be posted on the Million Hearts
website.
Additional Information
Applications received from applicants
will be stored in a password protected
file on a secure server. The Challenge
website will not include confidential or
proprietary information about
individual applicants, as described
further below. The database of
information submitted by applicants
will not be posted on the website.
Information collected from applicants
will include general details, such as the
business name, address, and contact
information of the applicant. This type
of information is generally publicly
available. The application will collect
and store only aggregate clinical data
through the application process; no
individually identifiable patient data
will be collected or stored. Confidential
or propriety data, clearly marked as
such, will be secured to the full extent
allowable by law.
Information for selected Champions,
such as the provider, practice, or health
system’s name, location, hypertension
control rate, and clinic practices that
support hypertension control may be
shared through press releases,
publications, the challenge website, and
Million Hearts and CDC resources.
Summary data on the types of systems
and processes that all applicants use to
control hypertension may be shared in
documents or other communication
products that describe generally used
practices for successful hypertension
control. HHS/CDC will use the summary
data only as described.
E:\FR\FM\14FEN1.SGM
14FEN1
8596
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 31 / Friday, February 14, 2020 / Notices
Compliance With Rules and Contacting
Contest Winners
Finalists and the Champions must
comply with all terms and conditions of
these Official Rules and being
designated as a Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Champion is
contingent upon fulfilling all
requirements herein. The initial finalists
will be notified by email or telephone
after the date of the judging.
Privacy
If Contestants choose to provide CDC
with personal information by registering
or filling out the application form
through the Challenge.gov website, that
information is used to respond to
Contestants in matters regarding their
application, announcements of
applicants, finalists, and winners of the
Challenge.
General Conditions
CDC reserves the right to cancel,
suspend, and/or modify the Challenge,
or any part of it, for any reason, at HHS/
CDC’s sole discretion.
Award Approving Official: Robert R.
Redfield, MD, Director, Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and
Administrator, Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry.
Participation in this Contest
constitutes a contestants’ full and
unconditional agreement to abide by the
Contest’s Official Rules found at https://
www.Challenge.gov and https://
millionhearts.hhs.gov/.
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.
Dated: February 11, 2020.
Sandra Cashman,
Executive Secretary, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2020–02987 Filed 2–13–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163–18–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services
[Document Identifier: CMS–10710]
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) is announcing
an opportunity for the public to
comment on CMS’ intention to collect
information from the public. Under the
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:56 Feb 13, 2020
Jkt 250001
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the
PRA), federal agencies are required to
publish notice in the Federal Register
concerning each proposed collection of
information (including each proposed
extension or reinstatement of an existing
collection of information) and to allow
60 days for public comment on the
proposed action. Interested persons are
invited to send comments regarding our
burden estimates or any other aspect of
this collection of information, including
the necessity and utility of the proposed
information collection for the proper
performance of the agency’s functions,
the accuracy of the estimated burden,
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected, and the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology to minimize the
information collection burden.
DATES: Comments must be received by
April 14, 2020.
ADDRESSES: When commenting, please
reference the document identifier or
OMB control number. To be assured
consideration, comments and
recommendations must be submitted in
any one of the following ways:
1. Electronically. You may send your
comments electronically to https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for ‘‘Comment or
Submission’’ or ‘‘More Search Options’’
to find the information collection
document(s) that are accepting
comments.
2. By regular mail. You may mail
written comments to the following
address:
CMS, Office of Strategic Operations
and Regulatory Affairs, Division of
Regulations Development, Attention:
Document Identifier/OMB Control
Number ll, Room C4–26–05, 7500
Security Boulevard, Baltimore,
Maryland 21244–1850.
To obtain copies of a supporting
statement and any related forms for the
proposed collection(s) summarized in
this notice, you may make your request
using one of following:
1. Access CMS’ website address at
website address at https://www.cms.gov/
Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/
PaperworkReductionActof1995/PRAListing.html.
2. Email your request, including your
address, phone number, OMB number,
and CMS document identifier, to
Paperwork@cms.hhs.gov.
3. Call the Reports Clearance Office at
(410) 786–1326.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
William N. Parham at (410) 786–4669.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
PO 00000
Frm 00061
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Contents
This notice sets out a summary of the
use and burden associated with the
following information collections. More
detailed information can be found in
each collection’s supporting statement
and associated materials (see
ADDRESSES).
CMS–10710 Generic Clearance for
Improving Customer Experience (OMB
Circular A–11, Section 280
Implementation)
Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501–
3520), federal agencies must obtain
approval from the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for each collection of
information they conduct or sponsor.
The term ‘‘collection of information’’ is
defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR
1320.3(c) and includes agency requests
or requirements that members of the
public submit reports, keep records, or
provide information to a third party.
Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA
requires federal agencies to publish a
60-day notice in the Federal Register
concerning each proposed collection of
information, including each proposed
extension or reinstatement of an existing
collection of information, before
submitting the collection to OMB for
approval. To comply with this
requirement, CMS is publishing this
notice.
Information Collection
1. Type of Information Collection
Request: New collection (Request for a
new OMB control number) collection;
Title of Information Collection: Generic
Clearance for Improving Customer
Experience (OMB Circular A–11,
Section 280 Implementation); Use:
Whether seeking a loan, Social Security
benefits, veterans benefits, or other
services provided by the Federal
Government, individuals and businesses
expect Government customer services to
be efficient and intuitive, just like
services from leading private-sector
organizations. Yet the 2016 American
Consumer Satisfaction Index and the
2017 Forrester Federal Customer
Experience Index show that, on average,
Government services lag nine
percentage points behind the private
sector.
A modern, streamlined and
responsive customer experience means:
Raising government-wide customer
experience to the average of the private
sector service industry; developing
indicators for high-impact Federal
programs to monitor progress towards
excellent customer experience and
mature digital services; and providing
the structure (including increasing
E:\FR\FM\14FEN1.SGM
14FEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 31 (Friday, February 14, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8593-8596]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02987]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Announcement of Requirements and Registration for the 2020
Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge
AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) located
within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the
launch of the 2020 Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge.
DATES: The Challenge will accept applications from February 21, 2020
through April 6, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Division for Heart Disease and Stroke
Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy
NE, Mailstop MS-S107-1, Chamblee, GA 30341, Telephone: 770-488-2424,
Email: [email protected]; subject line of email: Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Challenge; Attention: Mary George.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Million Hearts is a national initiative to prevent one million
heart attacks and strokes by 2022. In order to prevent one million
cardiovascular events (e.g., heart attacks and strokes), we need to
decrease smoking, sodium consumption and physical inactivity by 20%;
improve performance on quality of care measures for appropriate aspirin
use, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking
cessation to 80%; and improve outcomes for priority populations
disproportionately burdened by cardiovascular disease. Over the last
six years, we have seen tremendous progress by providers and health
care systems that focus on improving their performance in controlling
patients' blood pressure. Getting to 80% blood pressure control would
mean that 10 million more Americans with hypertension would have their
blood pressure under control, and be at substantially lower risk for
strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure, and other related
cardiovascular events. For more information about the initiative, visit
https://millionhearts.hhs.gov/. Million Hearts is a registered
trademark of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The challenge is an important way to call attention to the need for
improved hypertension control, provides a powerful motivation and
target for clinicians, and will improve understanding of successful
implementation strategies at the health system level. It will identify
clinicians, clinical practices, and health systems that have
exceptional rates of
[[Page 8594]]
hypertension control and recognize them as 2020 Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Champions. To support improved quality of care
delivered to patients with hypertension, Million Hearts will document
the systems, strategies, processes, and staffing that contribute to the
exceptional blood pressure control rates achieved by Champions.
Subject of Challenge Competition: The challenge is authorized by
Public Law 111-358, the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully
Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science Reauthorization
Act of 2010 (COMPETES Act).
Applicants for the 2020 Million Hearts Hypertension Control
Challenge will be asked to provide two hypertension control rates for
the practice's or health system's hypertensive population: a current
rate for the most recent 12-month reporting period (e.g., 1/1/2019-12/
31/2019) and a previous rate for the 12-month period immediately
preceding the most recent reporting period (e.g., 1/1/2018-12/31/2018).
Applicants will also be asked to provide the prevalence of hypertension
in their population (more details provided below), describe some
population characteristics (such as urban/rural location, percent
minority, percent enrolled in Medicaid, percent with no health
insurance, and percent whose primary language is not English) and
strategies used by the practice or health system that support
improvements in blood pressure control. A copy of the application form
will be available on the Challenge website for the duration of the
Challenge.
Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Competition
To be eligible for recognition as a Million Hearts Hypertension
Control Champion under this challenge, an individual or entity --
(1) Shall have completed the application form in its entirety to
participate in the competition under the rules developed by HHS/CDC;
(2) Shall have complied with all eligibility requirements and
satisfy the requirements in one of the following subparts:
a. Be a U.S. licensed clinician (i.e., MD, DO, nurse practitioner,
or physician assistant), practicing in any U.S. setting, who provides
ongoing care for adult patients with hypertension. The individual must
be a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S.;
b. Be a U.S. incorporated clinical practice, defined as any
practice with two or more U.S. licensed clinicians who by formal
arrangement share responsibility for a common panel of patients,
practice at the same physical location or street address, and provide
continuing medical care for adult patients with hypertension;
c. Be a health system, incorporated in and maintaining a primary
place of business in the U.S., that provides continuing medical care
for adult patients with hypertension. We encourage large health systems
(those that are comprised of a large number of geographically dispersed
clinics and/or have multiple hospital locations) to consider having one
or a few of the highest performing clinics or regional affiliates apply
individually instead of the health system applying as a whole;
(3) Must treat all adult patients with hypertension in the
practice, not a selected subgroup of patients;
(4) Must have a data management system (electronic or paper) that
allows HHS/CDC or their contractor to verify data submitted;
(5) Must treat a minimum of 500 adult patients annually and have a
hypertension control rate (blood pressure <140 mm Hg systolic and <90
mm Hg diastolic) of at least 80%;
(6) May not be a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within
the scope of their employment;
(7) An HHS employee must not work on their application(s) during
assigned duty hours;
(8) Shall not be an employee of or contractor at CDC;
(9) Must agree to participate in a data validation process to be
conducted by a reputable independent contractor. Data will be kept
confidential by the contractor to the extent applicable law allows and
will be shared with the CDC, in aggregate form only (e.g., the
hypertension control rate for the practice not individual patients'
hypertension values);
(10) Must agree to sign, without revisions, a Business Associate
Agreement with the contractor conducting the data validation.
(11) Must have a written policy in place about conducting periodic
background checks on all providers and taking appropriate action based
on the results of the check. CDC's contractor may also request to
review the policy and any supporting information deemed necessary. In
addition, a health system background check will be conducted by CDC or
a CDC contractor that includes a search for The Joint Commission
sanctions and current investigations for serious institutional
misconduct (e.g., attorney general investigation). Eligibility status,
based upon the above-referenced written policy, appropriate action, and
background check, will be determined at the discretion of the CDC
consistent with CDC's public health mission.
(12) Must agree to be recognized if selected and agree to
participate in an interview to develop a success story that describes
the systems and processes that support hypertension control among
patients. Champions will be recognized on the Million Hearts website.
Strategies used by Champions that support hypertension control may be
written into a success story, placed on the Million Hearts website,
used in press releases, publications, and attributed to Champions.
In addition to meeting the requirements listed in parts 1-12 above,
to be eligible for recognition in the challenge, an individual or
entity also must comply with the conditions or requirements set forth
in each of the following paragraphs in this section.
Federal funds may not be used to develop COMPETES Act challenge
applications or to fund efforts in support of a COMPETES Act challenge.
Individual applicants and individuals in a group practice must be
free from convictions for or pending investigations of criminal and
health care fraud offenses such as felony health care fraud, patient
abuse or neglect; felony convictions for other health care-related
fraud, theft, or other financial misconduct; and felony convictions
relating to unlawful manufacture, distribution, prescribing, or
dispensing of controlled substances as verified through the Office of
the Inspector General List of Excluded Individuals and Organizations at
https://oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/background.asp.
Individual applicants must be free from serious sanctions, such as
those for misuse or mis-prescribing of prescription medications.
Eligibility status of individual applicants with serious sanctions will
be determined at the discretion of CDC. CDC or CDC's contractor may
perform background checks on individual clinicians and medical
practices.
Champions previously recognized through the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017,
2018, and 2019 Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenges retain
their designation as a ``Champion'' and are not eligible to be named a
Champion in the 2020 challenge.
An individual or organization shall not be disqualified from the
2020 Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge for utilizing
Federal facilities or consulting with Federal employees during a
competition so long as the facilities and Federal employees are made
available to all individuals and
[[Page 8595]]
organizations participating in the competition on an equal basis.
By participating in this challenge, an individual or organization
agrees to assume any and all risks related to participating in the
challenge. Individuals or organizations also agree to waive claims
against the Federal Government and its related entities, except in the
case of willful misconduct, when participating in the challenge,
including claims for injury; death; damage; or loss of property, money,
or profits, and including those risks caused by negligence or other
causes.
By participating in this challenge, individuals and organizations
agree to protect the Federal Government against third party claims for
damages arising from or related to challenge activities.
Individuals or organizations are not required to hold liability
insurance related to participation in this challenge.
No cash prize will be awarded. Champions will receive national
recognition.
Registration Process for Participants
To participate and submit an application, interested parties should
go to https://millionhearts.hhs.gov or https://www.challenge.gov. On
this site, applicants will find the application form and the rules and
guidelines for participating. Information required of the applicants on
the application form includes:
The size of the applicant's adult primary care patient
population, a summary of known patient demographics (e.g., age
distribution), and any noteworthy patient population characteristics
(such as urban/rural location, percent minority, percent enrolled in
Medicaid, percent with no health insurance, and percent whose primary
language is not English).
The number of the applicant's adult primary care patients,
ages 18-85, who were seen during the measurement year and had a
hypertension diagnosis (i.e. hypertension prevalence).
The applicant's current hypertension control rate for
their hypertensive population ages 18-85 during the measurement year is
required. In determining the hypertension control rate for the 2020
Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge, CDC defines
``hypertension control'' as a blood pressure reading <140 mmHg systolic
and <90 mmHg diastolic among patients ages 18-85 with a diagnosis of
hypertension.
The hypertension control rate should be for the provider's
or health system's entire adult hypertensive patient population ages
18-85, and not limited to a sample. The provider's or health system's
hypertensive population ages 18-85 should include only patients in
primary care or in cardiology care in the case of a cardiology clinic.
Patients seen only in dental care or behavioral health care should not
be included. Examples of ineligible data submissions include
hypertension control rates that are limited to treatment cohorts from
research studies or pilot studies, patients limited to a specific age
range (such as 18-35 only), or patients enrolled in limited scale
quality improvement projects.
Completion of a checklist of sustainable clinic systems or
processes that support hypertension control. These may include provider
or patient incentives, dashboards, staffing characteristics, electronic
record keeping systems, reminder or alert systems, clinician reporting,
service modifications, etc.
The estimated burden for completing the application form is 30
minutes.
Amount of the Prize
Up to 35 of the highest scoring clinical practices or health
systems will be recognized as Million Hearts Hypertension Control
Champions. No cash prize will be awarded. Champions will receive
national recognition through the Million Hearts initiative.
Basis Upon Which Champions Will Be Selected
The application will be scored based on two hypertension control
rates: one for your most recent 12-month reporting period ending not
earlier than December 31, 2019, and consistency with a previous rate
for the 12-month period beginning 1 year before the current period.
Phase 1 includes verification of the hypertension prevalence and
blood pressure control rate data submitted and a background check. For
applicants whose Phase 1 data is verified as accurate and who pass the
background check without concerns, phase 2 consists of a medical chart
review. The medical chart review will verify the diagnosis of
hypertension during the reporting year as well as blood pressure being
controlled to <140 mmHg systolic and <90 mmHg diastolic. The estimated
time for the data verification and validation is two hours.
A CDC-sponsored panel of three to five experts consisting of CDC
staff will review the applications that pass phase 2 to select
Champions. Final selection of Champions will consider all the
information from the application form, the background check, data
verification and medical chart validation, and final verified
hypertension control rate. In the event of tied scores based on the
hypertension control rate at any point in the selection process,
geographic location may be considered to ensure a broad distribution of
champions. Selected Champions will be notified by phone or email.
Some Champions may participate in a post-challenge telephone
interview. The interview will include questions about the strategies
employed by the individual practice or organization to achieve high
rates of hypertension control, including barriers and facilitators for
those strategies. The interview will focus on systems and processes and
should not require preparation time by the Champion. The estimated time
for the interview is one hour, which includes time to review the
interview protocol with the interviewer, respond to the interview
questions, and review a summary about the Champion's practices. The
summary may be written as a success story and will be posted on the
Million Hearts website.
Additional Information
Applications received from applicants will be stored in a password
protected file on a secure server. The Challenge website will not
include confidential or proprietary information about individual
applicants, as described further below. The database of information
submitted by applicants will not be posted on the website. Information
collected from applicants will include general details, such as the
business name, address, and contact information of the applicant. This
type of information is generally publicly available. The application
will collect and store only aggregate clinical data through the
application process; no individually identifiable patient data will be
collected or stored. Confidential or propriety data, clearly marked as
such, will be secured to the full extent allowable by law.
Information for selected Champions, such as the provider, practice,
or health system's name, location, hypertension control rate, and
clinic practices that support hypertension control may be shared
through press releases, publications, the challenge website, and
Million Hearts and CDC resources.
Summary data on the types of systems and processes that all
applicants use to control hypertension may be shared in documents or
other communication products that describe generally used practices for
successful hypertension control. HHS/CDC will use the summary data only
as described.
[[Page 8596]]
Compliance With Rules and Contacting Contest Winners
Finalists and the Champions must comply with all terms and
conditions of these Official Rules and being designated as a Million
Hearts Hypertension Control Champion is contingent upon fulfilling all
requirements herein. The initial finalists will be notified by email or
telephone after the date of the judging.
Privacy
If Contestants choose to provide CDC with personal information by
registering or filling out the application form through the
Challenge.gov website, that information is used to respond to
Contestants in matters regarding their application, announcements of
applicants, finalists, and winners of the Challenge.
General Conditions
CDC reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the
Challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, at HHS/CDC's sole
discretion.
Award Approving Official: Robert R. Redfield, MD, Director, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, and Administrator, Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry.
Participation in this Contest constitutes a contestants' full and
unconditional agreement to abide by the Contest's Official Rules found
at https://www.Challenge.gov and https://millionhearts.hhs.gov/.
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.
Dated: February 11, 2020.
Sandra Cashman,
Executive Secretary, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2020-02987 Filed 2-13-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
