[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 121 (Tuesday, June 23, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37666-37667]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-13500]


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

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.


[[Page 37667]]


    Name: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), 
Hearing of the Subcommittee on Standards.
    Dates and Times: Tuesday, August 25, 2020: 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. EDT; 
Wednesday, August 26, 2020: 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. EDT.
    Place: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hubert H. 
Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Rm. 505A, Washington, DC 
20201.
    Status: Open.
    Purpose: At the August 25-26, 2020, hearing, the National Committee 
on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), Subcommittee on Standards, will 
address a request received on February 24, 2020, from the Council for 
Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH), Committee on Operating Rules for 
Information Exchange (CORE) Board, to consider three new operating 
rules for federal adoption: (1) CAQH CORE Prior Authorization Data 
Content Rule; (2) CAQH CORE Prior Authorization Infrastructure Rule; 
and (3) CAQH CORE Connectivity Rule. At this meeting, the Subcommittee 
will hear from invited industry stakeholders and review written 
testimony received in advance from interested individuals and 
organizations.
    The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) 
gives statutory authority to the Secretary of Health & Human Services 
(HHS) to promulgate regulations adopting standards, code sets, and 
identifiers to support the exchange of electronic health information 
between covered entities, including standards for retail pharmacy and 
medical transactions. Standards setting organizations or the Designated 
Standards Maintenance Organization (DSMO) bring forward new versions of 
the adopted standards to NCVHS after completion of a consensus-based 
review and evaluation process. Section 1104 of the Patient Protection 
and Affordable Care of 2010 (ACA) amended HIPAA and introduced the 
requirement to adopt operating rules to support the business function 
of each adopted standard transaction. To date, the Department of Health 
and Human Services (HHS) has adopted operating rules for eligibility, 
claim status, electronic remittance advice, and electronic funds 
transfer. HHS has not yet adopted operating rules for health care 
claims, enrollment/disenrollment, premium payments, prior authorization 
for referrals, or claim attachments.
    The Data Content and Infrastructure Rules pertain specifically to 
the prior authorization (278) transaction. The Connectivity Rule is to 
be more broadly applied to all HIPAA transactions and is designed to 
facilitate interoperability. CAQH CORE developed these rules for the 
purpose of improving utilization of administrative transactions, 
enhancing efficiency and lowering the cost of information exchange in 
healthcare.
    The Committee's intent is to solicit information from industry 
about the costs and benefits of the operating rule for connectivity and 
operating rules for the prior authorization transaction. The Committee 
requests comments from the public to inform the Committee's 
deliberations about the benefits of adopting these rules in advance of 
this meeting and will consider them along with the oral input of 
subject matter experts at the hearing. The Committee has developed 
specific questions to ensure comments address key issues under 
consideration by the Committee. Those questions are available at: 
https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/August-2020-Standards-Subcommittee-Hearing-Public-Comment-Questions. The letter from April Todd, Senior Vice 
President, CAQH CORE & Explorations, et al., to William W. Stead, 
Chair, National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, requesting 
the changes and a summary of the operating rules are available for 
review at https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CAQH-CORE-NCVHS-Review-Request-2.24.20_FINAL-508.pdf. Please submit comments 
specific to the Phase IV and V operating rules responding to the 
questions provided at the above link to [email protected] by close of 
business Friday, July 24, 2020.
    At the hearing, the Subcommittee on Standards will lead a 
discussion of the request received from CAQH CORE, taking into 
consideration input from stakeholders regarding costs and benefits of 
implementing each of these operating rules.
    There will be a public comment period on both meeting days. The 
meeting location, times and topics are subject to change. Please refer 
to the NCVHS website for any updates.
    Contact Person 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. Summaries of meetings and a roster of 
Committee members are available on the home page of the NCVHS website 
ncvhs.hhs.gov. Further information, including an agenda and 
instructions to access the broadcast of the meeting, will be posted at 
this site as soon as the information is available.
    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. 2020-13500 Filed 6-22-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-05-P