[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 119 (Thursday, June 24, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33318-33319]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-13334]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics: Notice of 
Meeting and Request for Public Comment

    Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the following advisory 
committee meeting and request for public comment.
    Name: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), 
Listening Session to be held by the Subcommittee on Standards.
    Dates and Times: Wednesday, August 25, 2021: 10:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. 
EST.
    Place: Virtual.
    Status: Open.
    Purpose: The purpose of this listening session is to obtain input 
from representatives of standards development organizations, invited 
industry stakeholders, and representatives from federal agencies on a 
variety of topics pertaining to data standards, harmonization of 
standards and code sets, new Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources 
(FHIR) application programming interfaces (APIs) to enhance the 
exchange of clinical and administrative data, the state of readiness 
for certain administrative and clinical standards to be considered for 
adoption or use as standards under the Health Insurance Portability and 
Accountability Act (HIPAA),\1\ for interoperability, and other subjects 
beyond HIPAA transactions.
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    \1\ Public Law 104-191, 110 Stat. 1936 (Aug 21, 1996), available 
at https://www.congress.gov/104/plaws/publ191/PLAW-104publ191.pdf.
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    This Notice also includes a Request for Public Comment to solicit 
input from interested individuals and stakeholders who would like to 
provide input to the Subcommittee in advance of the August 25, 2021, 
listening session.
    The Subcommittee seeks to understand the extent to which current 
and emerging standards for exchanging electronic health-related data 
under HIPAA and other applicable federal legislation and regulatory 
processes are meeting the business needs of the health care system. 
Applicable legislation and regulation include, but are not limited to 
HIPAA, the final Interoperability and Patient Access Rule promulgated 
by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),\2\ the 21st 
Century Cures Act,\3\ the Affordable Care Act of 2010,\4\ the Health 
Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act 
(HITECH),\5\ and Medicare Access and

[[Page 33319]]

CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).\6\
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    \2\ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Final Rule: 
Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Patient Protection and Affordable 
Care Act; Interoperability and Patient Access for Medicare Advantage 
Organization and Medicaid Managed Care Plans, State Medicaid 
Agencies, CHIP Agencies and CHIP Managed Care Entities, Issuers of 
Qualified Health Plans on the Federally-Facilitated Exchanges, and 
Health Care Providers,'' 85 FR 25510, May 1, 2020, available at 
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-05-01/pdf/2020-05050.pdf.
    \3\ Public Law 114-255, 130 STAT. 1033 (Dec. 13, 2016), 
available at https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ255/PLAW-114publ255.pdf.
    \4\ Public Law 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (Mar 13. 2010), available 
at https://www.congress.gov/111/plaws/publ148/PLAW-111publ148.pdf.
    \5\ Public Law 111-5, Title XIII, 123 Stat. 115, 226 (Feb. 17, 
2009), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-111publ5/pdf/PLAW-111publ5.pdf.
    \6\ Public Law 114-10, 129 Stat. 87 (April 16, 2015), available 
at https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ10/PLAW-114publ10.pdf.
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    Building on recent work of both NCVHS and the Office of the 
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), the 
Subcommittee is gathering input to inform phase 1 of its two-year 
project Standardization of Information for Burden Reduction and Post-
Pandemic America. This work involves assessing the current landscape of 
standards development and regulatory adoption processes and identifying 
opportunities for improving coordination of standards development, 
adoption, implementation, and conformity across disparate health-
related data systems. NCVHS may use the information to inform 
recommendations to HHS. These recommendations may include an updated 
framework for standards adoption and implementation that takes into 
consideration public health, wellness, social services, clinical and 
claims information and newer technologies that promote interoperability 
across the health care system.
    In conjunction with the August 25th listening session, the 
Subcommittee is including in this notice a Request for Public Comment 
to obtain written input from any interested stakeholders including: 
Trading partners and consumers; payers; providers; patients; standards 
organizations; advocacy groups; data exchanges; health information 
technology developers; and other data producers and data consumers 
including long term and post-acute care providers; public health 
agencies; population health registries; and operators of public and 
private sector claims and encounter data reporting systems. The 
Committee has developed specific questions to ensure comments address 
key issues under consideration by the Committee. Those questions are 
outlined here and available at: https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/Request-for-Public-Comment-Standards-Subcommittee-August-Listening-Session.
    (1) How can data sharing be improved between patients, providers, 
payers, public health system, and other actors in health care? What are 
the barriers to these improvements?
    (2) Are there any new standards or use cases available or under 
development that should be considered by NCVHS for recommendation to 
HHS for adoption to support interoperability, burden reduction and 
administrative simplification? Some examples might include new 
information sharing in health care, such as data or semantics for 
social determinants of health, public health case reporting, or All 
Payer Claims Databases. Please do not limit responses to these 
examples.
    (3) How have other industries effectively implemented, tested, and 
certified standards for data and their exchange that could be 
considered for health care?
    (4) What short term, mid-term and long-term opportunities or 
solutions do you believe should be priorities for HHS?
    Please submit comments to [email protected] by close of business 
Friday, July 30, 2021.
    The Subcommittee will consider information from the invited 
panelists as well as all timely submitted written comments from the 
public in its development of a landscape assessment and potential 
recommendations.
    There will be a public comment period. The meeting times and topics 
are subject to change. Please refer to the NCVHS website posted agenda 
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, email [email protected]. Summaries of 
meetings and a roster of Committee members are available on the home 
page of the NCVHS website https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/. Further information, 
including an agenda and instructions to access the broadcast of the 
meeting, will be posted 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. 2021-13334 Filed 6-23-21; 8:45 am]
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