Federal Register Notice
January 9, 1997
(62 FR 1336)

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics: Meetings

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Department of Health and Human Services announces the following advisory committee meetings.

Name: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), Subcommittee on Health Data Needs, Standards, and Security.

Times and Dates:

9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., January 21, 1997.

9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., January 22, 1997.

9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., February 10, 1997.

9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., February 11, 1997.

Place: Room 503A, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, D.C. 20201.

Status: Open.

Purpose: Under the Administrative Simplification subtitle of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Pub. L. No. 104-191), the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required to adopt standards for specified transactions to enable health information to be exchanged electronically. The law requires that, within 24 months of adoption, all health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers who choose to conduct these transactions electronically must comply with these standards. The Secretary is required to consult the NCVHS in complying with these provisions. As part of the consultation process, the Committee will submit recommendations to the Secretary during 1997.

To assist in the development of the NCVHS recommendations to HHS, the NCVHS Subcommittee on Health Data Needs, Standards, and Security is holding a series of public meetings to obtain the views, perspectives and concerns of interested and affected parties. The Subcommittee recognizes that there are natural tensions which exist between those who generate the information which goes into these transactions and those who use the information. At the meetings, the Subcommittee will discuss these and other issues which may arise when a uniform set of standards must be implemented by all data generators and users. Generators of this data include hospitals, physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and other providers of health care. Users of this data include health insurers, health plans, researchers, and managers of quality, utilization and risk.

For the meetings, specific organizations representing both the generators and users of this data will be invited by the Subcommittee to provide answers to the following questions in writing, to make brief oral presentations of their answers, and to answer further questions from the Subcommittee. Representatives of ANSI accredited Standards Developing Organizations will be asked to present their views of these issues as well.

Questions To Be Addressed:

1. What are your organization's expectations for the results of the Administrative Simplification standards requirements in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)? In what ways will the outcome affect the members of your organization, both positively and negatively?

2. Does your organization have any concerns about the process being undertaken by the Department of Health and Human Services to carry out the Administrative Simplification requirements of this law? If so, what are those concerns and what suggestions do you have for improvements?

3. What major problems are experienced by the members of your organization with the current transactions specified under the HIPAA? For generators of the data, how readily available is the information that you need to provide for the transactions and how meaningful is that information from a clinical perspective? For users of the data, are you receiving the information you need from the transactions to pay the bill, manage the care process, etc., and what is your perception of its quality?

4. How can the goal of administrative simplification best be achieved while meeting the business needs of all stakeholders?

In addition, the Subcommittee will receive a presentation from the Health Care Financing Administration on unique identifiers for providers and payers on January 21. On January 22, the Subcommittee will discuss other business consistent with its charge.

Notice: In the interest of security, the Department has instituted stringent procedures for entrance to the Hubert H. Humphrey building by non-government employees. Thus, persons without a government identification card should plan to arrive at the building each day either between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m. or 12:30 and 1:00 p.m. so they can be escorted to the meeting. Entrance to the meeting at other times during the day cannot be assured.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Substantive program information as well as summaries of the meeting and a roster of committee members may be obtained from James Scanlon, NCVHS Executive Staff Director, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, DHHS, Room 444-D. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, telephone (202) 690-7100, or Marjorie S. Greenberg, Acting Executive Secretary, NCVHS, NCHS, CDC, Room 1100, Presidential Building, 6525 Belcrest Road, Hyattsville, Maryland 20782, telephone (301) 436-7050. Information also is available on the NCVHS homepage: http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/ncvhs/index.htm.

Dated: January 2, 1997.

James Scanlon, Director, Division of Data Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

[FR Doc. 97-434 Filed 1-8-97; 8:45 am]

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