[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 40 (Wednesday, February 28, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Page 8682]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-04057]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics: Meeting

    Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the following advisory 
committee meeting.
    Name: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), 
Standards Subcommittee Meeting.
    Date and Times: Monday, March 26, 2018: 9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (EDT).
    Place: Virtual.
    Status: Open. There will be an open comment period during the final 
15 minutes of the committee meeting.
    Purpose: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 
(HIPAA) legislation from 1996, as amended,\1\ directed the Secretary of 
HHS to publish regulations adopting standards, code sets and 
identifiers to support the exchange of electronic health information 
between covered entities. The standards are for retail pharmacy and 
medical transactions. New versions of the adopted standards may be 
brought forward to NCVHS by the standards development organizations 
(SDOs) or through the Designated Standards Maintenance Organization 
(DSMO) after completion of a consensus based review and evaluation 
process.
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    \1\ along with Section 1104 (c) of the Affordable Care Act.
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    On January 9, 2018, the DSMO submitted a letter to NCVHS 
recommending the adoption of two National Council of Prescription Drug 
Program (NCPDP) updates to the adopted retail pharmacy standards. These 
updates include: (1) An update to the retail pharmacy standard, the 
NCPDP Telecommunication and Batch standard version D.0., which was 
adopted in 2009. The update would be NCPDP Telecommunication and Batch 
standard version F2, which would enable eligibility verification, 
claims, services, information reporting, prior authorization (for 
pharmacy), and pre-determination of benefits; and (2) an update to the 
Medicaid subrogation standard, also adopted in 2009, to expand 
subrogation to all payers, including Medicare Parts C and D. The 
updated subrogation standard is the Batch Standard version 10, and 
replaces version 3.0. It will enable all payers to conduct a uniform 
process to support compliance with requirements for recovery of 
federal, state and other plan overpayments, mitigating manual processes 
currently in place.
    The purpose of this NCVHS Standards Subcommittee hearing is to 
obtain input from stakeholders for the costs and benefits of 
implementing the updated versions of the two pharmacy standards: NCPDP 
F2 and pharmacy subrogation, and to understand how they would reduce 
existing barriers to the use of standards, or mitigate burdens.
    The times and topics are subject to change. Please refer to the 
posted agenda for any updates.
    Contact Persons for More Information: Substantive program 
information may be obtained from Rebecca Hines, MHS, Executive 
Secretary, NCVHS, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, 3311 Toledo Road, Hyattsville, Maryland 
20782, telephone (301) 458-4715. Information pertaining to meeting 
content may be obtained from Lorraine Doo, MSW, MPH, or Geanelle G. 
Herring, MSW, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of 
Information Technology, Division of National Standards, 7500 Security 
Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland, 21244, telephone (410) 786-6597. 
Summaries of meetings and a roster of Committee members are available 
on the NCVHS website: https://www.ncvhs.hhs.gov/, where further 
information including an agenda and instructions to access the live 
audio broadcast of the meetings will also be posted.
    Should you require reasonable accommodation, please contact the CDC 
Office of Equal Employment Opportunity on (770) 488-3210 as soon as 
possible.

    Dated: February 22, 2018.
Laina Bush,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Office of the 
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 2018-04057 Filed 2-27-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4150-05-P