[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]
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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.
[[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]
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