[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 17, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16876-16877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-07926]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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: Thursday, May 17, 2018: 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (EDT).
    Place: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Janet Norwood Conference and 
Training Center, Postal Square Building, 2 Massachusetts Ave NE, Room 
G440, Washington, DC 20212 (Entrance on First Street across from Union 
Station).
    Status: Open. There will be a public comment period during the 
final 15 minutes of the subcommittee meeting.
    Purpose: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 
(HIPAA) legislation from 1996, as amended,\1\ directed the Secretary of 
HHS to publish regulations adopting administrative 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Along with Section 1104(c) of the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    NCVHS is working on the development of a standards update and 
adoption roadmap (the predictability roadmap), in collaboration with 
industry stakeholders and the Standards Development Organizations 
(SDOs). The purpose of this roadmap is to improve the predictability of 
the update and adoption process of the standards and operating rules. 
It is the intent of the collaboration effort to identify the barriers 
to updating and adopting standards and make constructive, actionable 
recommendations for all parties, so that covered entities can more 
effectively conduct their business, operational and technical strategic 
planning.
    NCVHS held a visioning exercise with the Standards Development 
Organizations (SDOs) in August 2017, and developed a set of draft 
action steps and recommendations. The next step towards finalizing 
recommendations for the Secretary, is to convene a group of Chief 
Information Officers (CIOs) who work with the standards and operating 
rules as end users, with health care leaders from various fields of 
health care technology. The CIOs and health care innovators will 
exchange information based on their experience and expertise. The CIOs 
will discuss their changing business and technology needs specifically 
as these pertain to the standards that have been adopted under HIPAA 
such as claims, eligibility, referrals and authorizations. Some 
individuals will share their experience using the standards day to day, 
and to increase efficiencies in their organizations. Other participants 
will share their experience implementing or seeing innovative 
technology being used for the exchange of electronic health care 
information.

[[Page 16877]]

    During the second part of the forum, the group will engage in an 
open discussion about the roadmap themes and develop additional action 
items and recommendations for the Secretary. The roadmap themes and 
their problem statements are listed below:
    1. Standards Development and update process. Frequency of updates 
to standards and operating rules is not aligned with industry business 
and technical changes and does not enable covered entities, trading 
partners, or business associates to take advantage of developments in 
technology.
    2. Governance, or oversight of the standards review process 
(currently the Designated Standards Maintenance Organization or DSMO 
process established through regulation). Current coordinating body 
(i.e., the DSMO) is charged with oversight of standards revision 
priorities but may be operating with too narrow a charter or lacking 
the authority and resources to be effective.
    3. Federal regulatory process to adopt new versions of standards. 
The Federal process for adoption of standards and operating rules is 
lengthy, of unpredictable duration and contains numerous checks and 
balances that duplicate similar processes within the standards 
development organizations. The lack of predictability and timeliness 
jeopardizes the smooth adoption and uptake of standards and operating 
rules once they are developed and published by the SDO.
    4. Data harmonization. The lack of data cohesion due to 
inconsistencies in data dictionaries and data elements across SDOs 
jeopardizes interoperability.
    5. Inclusion of non-covered entities under HIPAA. Covered entities 
include providers, health plans and health care clearinghouses. Vendors 
and other business associates are not covered entities but often play a 
role in the exchange and/or processing of the adopted standards. The 
Federal government is limited in its authority over non-covered 
entities. This impacts the use of standards in a variety of ways, from 
costs to actual utilization.
    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, Centers for 
Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of Information Technology, 
Division of National Standards, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, 
Maryland, 21244, telephone (443) 615-1309. Summaries of meetings and a 
roster of Committee members are available on the NCVHS website: 
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: April 10, 2018.
Laina Bush,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Office of the 
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 2018-07926 Filed 4-16-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4151-05-P