[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 204 (Monday, October 22, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Page 53276]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-22952]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics: Hearing

    Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the following advisory 
committee hearing.
    Name: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), 
Subcommittee on Standards.
    Date and Times: Wednesday, December 12, 2018: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (EST); 
Thursday, December 13, 2018: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (EST).
    Place: Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert Street NW, Washington, DC 
20008.
    Status: Open. There will be a public comment period during the 
final 15 minutes of both days of the meeting.
    Purpose: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 
(HIPAA) legislation from 1996, as amended,\1\ directed the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services (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.
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    \1\ Along with Section 1104(c) of the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010.
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    In its capacity to advise the HHS Secretary on health data, 
statistics, privacy, national health information policy, and HIPAA, 
NCVHS is in the final stages of the development of a standards update 
and adoption roadmap, referred to as the Predictability Roadmap. The 
development of the Predictability Roadmap has been a year and a half 
long process, achieved in collaboration with industry stakeholders and 
the standards development organizations (SDOs). The overall vision for 
the Predictability Roadmap is that:
     HIPAA covered entities and their business associates use 
the adopted standards and operating rules in a consistent way to 
exchange health information and conduct business; and
     Standards are reliably updated and adopted so that covered 
entities know when they will need to, and/or be able to update systems 
and business processes.
    To accomplish this goal, NCVHS conducted several information 
gathering activities and stakeholder engagement meetings and workshops: 
In June 2017 the Subcommittee on Standards met with each of the 
standards development organizations (SDOs) to learn about their 
individual maintenance processes; in August 2017 the Subcommittee held 
a visioning exercise with the SDOs and Designated Standards Maintenance 
Organization (DSMO); and in May 2018, the Subcommittee conducted a CIO 
Forum with 21 health care technology experts and senior corporate 
officers representing a cross-section of organizations that were end-
users of the HIPAA and ACA administrative standards. The goal of this 
Forum was to elicit input for improving the standards development, 
update and adoption process, and address barriers to use of those 
standards. Based on this work, the Subcommittee on Standards developed 
a draft Predictability Roadmap comprised of 23 recommendations 
organized under three major focus areas. The draft recommendations were 
presented at the September 13-14 NCVHS meeting and are posted on the 
website at: https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Presentation-NCVHS-Draft-Predictability-Roadmap-Recs-Coussoule-and-Goss.pdf.
    The purpose of this Subcommittee hearing is to obtain input from 
stakeholders on the draft recommendations designed to improve the 
processes for updating, adopting and using standards and operating 
rules, and developing a formal Predictability Roadmap. The Subcommittee 
will use the feedback received at this hearing to finalize 
recommendations to the Secretary of HHS.
    Individuals and representatives of organizations interested in 
submitting written testimony are invited to respond to the following 
questions:
    In general,
    1. Would these recommendations as a whole improve the 
predictability of the adoption of administrative standards and 
operating rules?
    2. What additional recommendations are critical to achieve 
predictability?
    And specifically,
    3. What is the value proposition of each recommendation and what 
improvements to the current state do you believe will arise from each 
recommendation/group of similar recommendations?
    4. Are there potential unintended consequences? What are those and 
how can they be mitigated with modifications to the recommendations?
    The questions outlined above can be used to guide written 
submissions to the Subcommittee. Written submissions should be sent 
electronically to [email protected] with ``Predictability Roadmap'' in 
the subject line no later than November 20, 2018.
    The times and topics for this meeting are subject to change. Please 
refer to the posted agenda at www.ncvhs.hhs.gov 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, (410) 786-6597; 
and/or Geanelle G. Herring, MSW, (410) 786-4466; Centers for Medicare & 
Medicaid Services, Office of Information Technology, Division of 
National Standards, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland, 
21244. 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 meeting will be posted.
    Should you require reasonable accommodation, please contact the CDC 
Office of Equal Employment Opportunity on (770) 488-3210 as soon as 
possible.

Sharon Arnold,
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 
Science and Data Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning 
and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 2018-22952 Filed 10-19-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4151-05-P