[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 198 (Monday, October 16, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71369-71370]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22753]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of meeting (virtual); notice of request for information 
(RFI).

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Department 
of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the following advisory 
committee meeting and related Request for Information (RFI). This 
meeting is open to the public. The public is welcome to obtain the link 
to attend this meeting by following the instructions posted on the 
Committee website: https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/meetings/full-committee-meeting-15. To submit comments in response to the RFI, please send by 
close of business January 12, 2024, to [email protected], and include 
on the subject line: Response from [your organization and/or name] 
regarding ICD-11 RFI.
    Name: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) 
Meeting.

DATES: 
    Wednesday, November 29, 2023: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. ET.
    Thursday, November 30, 2023: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. ET.

ADDRESSES: Virtual open meeting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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, or via 
electronic mail to [email protected]; or by telephone (301) 458-4715. 
Summaries of meetings and a roster of Committee members are available 
on the NCVHS website https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/ where further information 
including an agenda and instructions to access the broadcast of the 
meeting will be posted.
    Should you require reasonable accommodation, please telephone the 
CDC Office of Equal Employment Opportunity at (770) 488-3210 as soon as 
possible.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Name: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS). 
Full Committee Meeting. The National Committee on Vital and Health 
Statistics was established by Congress to serve as the statutory [42 
U.S.C. 242k(k)] advisory body to the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services for health data, statistics, privacy, and national health 
information policy. In addition, under the Health Insurance Portability 
and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA),\1\ NCVHS advises the Secretary 
on administrative simplification standards, including those for 
privacy, security, adoption and implementation of transaction 
standards, unique identifiers, code sets, and operating rules adopted 
under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) \2\ and 
HIPAA. In that capacity, the Committee provides advice and assistance 
to the Department and serves as a forum for interaction with interested 
private sector groups on health data issues. It fulfills important 
review and advisory functions regarding health data and administrative 
standards of national and international scope, conducts studies of 
prevailing current topics, and makes recommendations for improvement of 
the Nation's health statistics and information systems.
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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.
    \2\ Public Law 111-148, 124 Stat.119, available at https://www.congress.gov/111/plaws/publ148/PLAW-111publ148.pdf.
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    Purpose: The meeting agenda will include briefings from HHS 
officials, time for members to discuss and consider current and 
proposed activities outlined in the NCVHS 2023-24 workplan, and hold 
discussions on several health data policy topics, including health care 
standards development and cybersecurity.
    The Subcommittee on Standards plans to hold a panel discussion on 
the approach used by Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) to 
evaluate and assess the readiness of new and updated standards prior to 
release for national implementation. This includes discussion on 
potential risks and impacts across existing standards, calculation of 
business cost recovery, and planning for the anticipated ICD-11 
implementation timeline and expected milestones. Additional briefings 
on related topics such as HIPAA enforcement also may be included on the 
agenda.
    The NCVHS Workgroup on Timely and Strategic Action to Inform ICD-11 
Policy will report to the full Committee on recent activities, 
including information learned from the ICD-11 Expert Roundtable meeting 
held August 3, 2023, and its anticipated workplan in the upcoming 6-12 
month period.
    The Subcommittee on Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security will 
facilitate a discussion on proposed recommendations to HHS to 
strengthen the HIPAA Security Rule following recent Committee briefings 
on the topic. Finally, the Committee will allot time to discuss draft 
language for the Committee's 2023 Report to Congress.
    The Committee will also reserve time on the agenda for public 
comment. Meeting times and topics are subject to change. Please refer 
to the agenda posted on the NCVHS website for

[[Page 71370]]

updates: https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/meetings/full-committee-meeting-15.
    Background on ICD-11: The International Classification of Diseases 
(ICD) is the global standard for health data, clinical documentation, 
and statistical aggregation. It provides a common language for 
recording, reporting, and monitoring diseases, allowing the world to 
compare and share data in a consistent and standard way--among 
hospitals, regions, and countries, and over periods of time. It 
facilitates the collection and storage of data for analysis and 
evidence-based decision-making by enabling systematic recording, 
reporting, analysis, interpretation, and comparison of mortality and 
morbidity data.
    ICD-11 allows countries to count and identify their most pressing 
health issues using an up-to-date and clinically relevant 
classification system.3 4 5 6 Governments assign ICD-11 
codes to health conditions and accidents so data can be used to design 
effective public health policies and measure their impacts, or so that 
clinicians can use the data for recording encounters with patients in a 
standard way.
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    \3\ ICD-11 Overview: Key Facts, History, and References 
(September 2023): https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/NCVHS-WG-ICD-11-Overview-September-2023.
    \4\ ICD-11 was adopted at the World Health Assembly in May 2019 
and Member States committed to start using it for mortality and 
morbidity reporting in 2022. Since 2019, early adopter countries, 
translators, and scientific groups have recommended further 
refinements to produce the version that is posted online today. 
World Health Organization (WHO) Press Release. (February 11, 2022): 
https://paho.org/en/news/11-2-2022-whos-new-international-classification-diseases-icd-11-comes-effect.
    \5\ WHO ICD-11 website: https://icd.who.int/en.
    \6\ WHO ICD-11 Fact Sheet: https://icd.who.int/en/docs/icd11factsheet_en.pdf.
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    Request for Information: This Notice also serves as a Request for 
Information (RFI) addressing the potential use of ICD-11 for morbidity 
coding in the U.S. We welcome responses from industry stakeholders, 
interested individuals and organizations, or any members of the public. 
The following questions are a guide to information the Workgroup would 
find particularly helpful, though respondents are invited to comment on 
any aspect of ICD-11 that they wish.

1. Related to ICD-11 content and addressing U.S.-specific needs, 
which enhancements in classification content would be most useful?
    a. Coding to assess and address population health equity, 
social, behavioral, and community health
    b. Coding to measure health care quality and patient safety
    c. Coding for rare diseases
    d. Content on other topics?
2. What is the potential to reduce burdens and improve quality/
accuracy through the greater automation offered by the ICD-11 online 
classification systems?
    a. How might automation reduce burdens of clinical documentation 
and coding for reimbursement, risk adjustment, clinical registry, 
and public health reporting?
    b. What might be the role of artificial intelligence for your 
organization?
    c. What might be the role of standardized cross-maps to other 
coding systems?
    d. What other potential features could promote burden reduction?
3. What standards, systems, workforce, and processes must change to 
accommodate ICD-11?
    a. How would your organization assess the cost and impact of 
these changes?
    b. How might technical changes such as clustered (post-
coordinated) coding be implemented in your environment?
    c. What other changes are related?
4. What are the most important considerations and requirements for a 
U.S. governing body for ICD-11?
    a. Developing and managing implementation plans and programs for 
ICD-11 in the U.S.
    b. Developing regulations or guidance for ICD-11 applicable to 
your organization.
    c. Ongoing management and maintenance of U.S. ICD-11 and its 
use.
    d. Other requirements not named above?
5. What financial, educational, or human resources will be needed 
for:
    a. Implementing ICD-11 in your organization.
    b. Managing and maintaining U.S. ICD-11 in your organization.
    c. Meeting the needs of smaller, less resourced, or less 
externally supported entities.
    d. What other resources not listed here may be needed?

    The Committee will compile submitted responses and consider them 
together with responses submitted in response to the initial ICD-11 RFI 
[https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/RFI-Responses-NCVHS-Workgroup-on-Timely-and-Strategic-Action-to-Inform-ICD-11-Policy.pdf] 
together with input from subject matter experts during the August 3, 
2023, ICD-11 Expert Roundtable meeting [https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/meetings/icd-11-workgroup-meeting/]. To submit comments in response to the RFI, 
please send by January 12, 2024, to [email protected] and include on 
the subject line: Response from [your organization or name] regarding 
ICD-11 RFI.

Sharon Arnold,
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Science and Data 
Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 2023-22753 Filed 10-13-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-05-P