[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 210 (Monday, November 1, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58851-58852]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-28497]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of Inspector General


Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank: Announcement of 
Opening Date for Reporting and Self-Query Fee

AGENCY: Office of Inspector General (OIG), HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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    In accordance with final regulations implementing the Healthcare 
Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB) published in the Federal 
Register on October 26, 1999 (64 FR 57740), the Office of Inspector 
General (OIG) is announcing that the data bank will become operational 
for purposes of reporting information on November 22, 1999. In 
addition, the Department now is exercising its authority to impose a 
fee for self-queries to the data bank and is announcing a ten dollar 
fee for health care practitioners, providers or suppliers who request 
information about themselves (self-queries) from the HIPDB.

1. Reportable Actions

    All reportable actions taken since August 21, 1996, the date of 
passage of the HIPDB's authorizing statute, section 221(a) of the 
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, 
must be reported to the HIPDB beginning November 22, 1999--the opening 
operational date for the data bank. To submit reports, registered 
entities must use the HIPDB web site at www.npdb-hipdb.com. Specific 
guidelines for reporting also can be found on this web site.

2. Self-query User Fee Amount

    In conjunction with the opening of the HIPDB for reporting and as 
part of its obligations under the Privacy Act, the Department is 
offering at this time self-querying to health care practitioners, 
providers and suppliers.
    Section 1128E(d)(2) of the Social Security Act, as added by section 
221(a) of HIPAA, specifically authorizes the establishment of fees for 
the costs of processing requests for disclosure and for providing such 
information, and the final regulations at 45 CFR part 61 set forth the 
criteria and procedures for information to be reported to and disclosed 
by the HIPDB. The Act requires that the Department recover the full 
costs of operating the HIPDB through user fees. In determining any 
changes in the amount of the user fee, the Department is employing the 
criteria set forth in * 61.13(b) of the HIPDB regulations.

[[Page 58852]]

    Specifically, Sec. 61.13(b) states that the amount of each fee will 
be determined based on the following criteria:
     direct and indirect personnel costs;
     physical overhead, consulting, and other indirect costs 
including rent and depreciation on land, buildings and equipment;
     agency management and supervisory costs;
     costs of enforcement, research and establishment of 
regulations and guidance;
     use of electronic data processing equipment to collect and 
maintain information--the actual cost of the service, including 
computer search time, runs and printouts; and
     any other direct or indirect costs related to the 
provision of services.
    The HIPDB incurs substantial labor costs for manual data input, 
sorting and responding to calls for Helpline assistance in order to 
process self-queries, as well as substantial postage and packaging 
costs for mailing self-query results to practitioners. As a result, 
based on an analysis of the costs of processing self-queries, the 
Department is establishing a ten dollar fee for each self-query.
    In order to minimize administrative costs, the Department will 
accept payment for self-queries only by credit card. The HIPDB accepts 
Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. This fee is effective beginning 
November 19, 1999.
    The Department will continue to review the user fee periodically, 
and will revise it as necessary. Any changes in the fee and its 
effective date will be announced in the Federal Register. We will also 
announce the fee structure and the opening date for queriers submitted 
by authorized entities through a separate Federal Register notice to be 
published shortly.

    Dated: October 26, 1999.
June Gibbs Brown,
Inspector General.
[FR Doc. 99-28497 Filed 10-29-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-04-P