[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 91 (Monday, May 12, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25954-25955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-12270]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics: Meetings

    Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Department of 
Health and Human Services announces the following advisory committee 
meeting.

    Name: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), 
Executive Committee.
    Times and Dates: 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., June 3, 1997; 9:00 a.m.-
5:30 p.m., June 4, 1997.
    Place: Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, 
CA.
    Status: Open.
    Purpose: Under the Administrative Simplification provisions of 
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 
(HIPAA), the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required to 
adopt standards for specified administrative health care 
transactions to enable information to be exchanged electronically. 
The law requires that, within 24 months of adoption, all health 
plans, health care clearinghouses and health care providers who 
choose to conduct these transactions electronically must comply with 
these standards. Further, the law requires DHHS to submit a report 
to Congress containing detailed recommendations on standards with 
respect to the privacy of individually identifiable health 
information. In preparing these reports and recommendations, the 
Secretary is required to consult with the NCVHS, the statutory 
public advisory body to HHS on health data, privacy and health 
information policy. The Committee is planning to submit 
recommendations to the Secretary during 1997.
    To assist in formulating its recommendations, the NCVHS has 
convened a number of public meetings relating to health data 
standards and health information privacy and confidentiality. These 
meetings were held in the Washington, D.C. area and involved a broad 
range of representatives from the health sector, including 
providers, plans, insurers, electronic clearinghouses, third party 
administrators, health researches, representatives from public 
health agencies, social welfare agencies, law enforcement agencies, 
public and private organizations with health system oversight 
responsibilities, and privacy and patient interest groups.

[[Page 25955]]

    To provide an additional opportunity for public input and to 
solicit additional views and advice on implementation of the 
administrative simplification provisions of Public Law 104-191, the 
Executive Subcommittee of the NCVHS, with support from the 
California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, is 
sponsoring a public meeting on June 3-4, 1997 in San Francisco. The 
meeting is open to the public and will take place from 9:00 to 5:30 
p.m. at the Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue.
    For the meeting, the Committee is inviting specific 
organizations representing consumer groups, plans, providers, 
insurers, researchers and the public health community, as well as 
other interested parties to describe their perspectives and offer 
advice on the implementation of the law. Presenters are being asked 
to respond to the questions outlined below in writing, to make a 
brief oral presentation, and to respond to additional questions from 
the Committee.

Questions To Be Addressed

    1. What does your organization expect to be the impact of the 
administrative simplification requirements in the Health Insurance 
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)? These standards 
include: Administrative transactions, coding sets and medical 
classifications, privacy, confidentiality, security and unique 
personal health identification numbers for providers, plans, 
employers, and individuals for use in the health care system. Please 
describe how each of these issues could affect the members of your 
organization or the persons you represent.
    2. Are any of these standards currently priority areas for your 
organization or members of your organization? How are you addressing 
or planning to address these standards?
    3. Do members of your organization have any concerns about the 
type of transactions specified under HIPAA? For producers of the 
data, how available is the information that you need to report in 
the transactions? For organizations and individuals that use these 
data, is the information useful for bill payment, managing the care 
process, and health policy analysis and assessments? Do you have 
comments regarding the quality of these data?
    4. How can administrative simplification best be achieved while 
balancing clinical and payment needs with maintaining privacy 
protection for individuals?
    5. Recognizing the intent of the administrative simplification 
provisions of P.L. 104-191, what coding approach would best meet 
your needs? Please suggest how administrative simplification could 
be achieved while reducing administrative burden and obtaining 
clinically useful information.
    6. What medical and clinical codes and classifications do you 
use in administrative transactions now? What do you perceive as the 
main strengths and weaknesses of the current methods for coding and 
classification of encounter and enrollment data?
    7. What medical procedure classification system would you 
recommend as the initial standard for outpatient transactions? Is it 
practical to move to a single procedure classification on the 
schedule required for the implementation of administrative 
standards? Should the standards continue the current practice of 
requiring different procedure coding systems for the ambulatory and 
inpatient sectors?
    8. Before the passage of HIPAA, the National Center for Health 
Statistics initiated the development of a clinical modification of 
the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10-
CM) to replace ICD-9-CM. In addition, the Health Care Financing 
Administration undertook the development of a new procedure coding 
system for inpatient services, entitled ICD-10-PCS (Procedure 
Classification System). A plan exists to implement these systems 
simultaneously in the year 2000. On the pre-HIPAA schedule, they 
will be released to the field for evaluation and testing by 1998. 
Should ICD be used for administrative transactions? If so, which 
version do you advocate and why?
    9. Do you have any advice or recommendations for NCVHS or the 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services related to the 
implementation of the standards and privacy provisions of the HIPAA? 
Do you have any concerns?
    Contact Person for More Information: Substantive program 
information as well as summaries of the meeting and a roster of 
committee members may be obtained from James Scanlon, NCVHS Executive 
Staff Director, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and 
Evaluation, DHHS, Room 440-D, Humphrey Building, 200 Independence 
Avenue S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, telephone (202) 690-7100, or 
Marjorie S. Greenberg, Acting Executive Secretary, NCVHS, NCHS, CDC, 
Room 1100, Presidential Building, 6525 Belcrest Road, Hyattsville, 
Maryland 20782, telephone (301) 436-7050. Information also is available 
on the NCVHS home page of the HHS website: http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/
ncvhs.

    Dated: May 5, 1997.
James Scanlon,
Director, Division of Data Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary 
for Planning and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 97-12270 Filed 5-9-97; 8:45 am]
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