Federal Register Notice
May 12, 1997
(62 FR 25954)

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 meeting.

Name: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), Executive Committee.

Times and Dates: 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., June 3, 1997; 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., June 4, 1997.

Place: Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA.

Status: Open.

Purpose: Under the Administrative Simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required to adopt standards for specified administrative health care transactions to enable 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. Further, the law requires DHHS to submit a report to Congress containing detailed recommendations on standards with respect to the privacy of individually identifiable health information. In preparing these reports and recommendations, the Secretary is required to consult with the NCVHS, the statutory public advisory body to HHS on health data, privacy and health information policy. The Committee is planning to submit recommendations to the Secretary during 1997.

To assist in formulating its recommendations, the NCVHS has convened a number of public meetings relating to health data standards and health information privacy and confidentiality. These meetings were held in the Washington, D.C. area and involved a broad range of representatives from the health sector, including providers, plans, insurers, electronic clearinghouses, third party administrators, health researches, representatives from public health agencies, social welfare agencies, law enforcement agencies, public and private organizations with health system oversight responsibilities, and privacy and patient interest groups. [p25955]

To provide an additional opportunity for public input and to solicit additional views and advice on implementation of the administrative simplification provisions of Public Law 104-191, the Executive Subcommittee of the NCVHS, with support from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, is sponsoring a public meeting on June 3-4, 1997 in San Francisco. The meeting is open to the public and will take place from 9:00 to 5:30 p.m. at the Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue.

For the meeting, the Committee is inviting specific organizations representing consumer groups, plans, providers, insurers, researchers and the public health community, as well as other interested parties to describe their perspectives and offer advice on the implementation of the law. Presenters are being asked to respond to the questions outlined below in writing, to make a brief oral presentation, and to respond to additional questions from the Committee.

Questions To Be Addressed

1. What does your organization expect to be the impact of the administrative simplification requirements in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)? These standards include: Administrative transactions, coding sets and medical classifications, privacy, confidentiality, security and unique personal health identification numbers for providers, plans, employers, and individuals for use in the health care system. Please describe how each of these issues could affect the members of your organization or the persons you represent.
2. Are any of these standards currently priority areas for your organization or members of your organization? How are you addressing or planning to address these standards?
3. Do members of your organization have any concerns about the type of transactions specified under HIPAA? For producers of the data, how available is the information that you need to report in the transactions? For organizations and individuals that use these data, is the information useful for bill payment, managing the care process, and health policy analysis and assessments? Do you have comments regarding the quality of these data?
4. How can administrative simplification best be achieved while balancing clinical and payment needs with maintaining privacy protection for individuals?
5. Recognizing the intent of the administrative simplification provisions of P.L. 104-191, what coding approach would best meet your needs? Please suggest how administrative simplification could be achieved while reducing administrative burden and obtaining clinically useful information.
6. What medical and clinical codes and classifications do you use in administrative transactions now? What do you perceive as the main strengths and weaknesses of the current methods for coding and classification of encounter and enrollment data?
7. What medical procedure classification system would you recommend as the initial standard for outpatient transactions? Is it practical to move to a single procedure classification on the schedule required for the implementation of administrative standards? Should the standards continue the current practice of requiring different procedure coding systems for the ambulatory and inpatient sectors?
8. Before the passage of HIPAA, the National Center for Health Statistics initiated the development of a clinical modification of the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10-CM) to replace ICD-9-CM. In addition, the Health Care Financing Administration undertook the development of a new procedure coding system for inpatient services, entitled ICD-10-PCS (Procedure Classification System). A plan exists to implement these systems simultaneously in the year 2000. On the pre-HIPAA schedule, they will be released to the field for evaluation and testing by 1998. Should ICD be used for administrative transactions? If so, which version do you advocate and why?
9. Do you have any advice or recommendations for NCVHS or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services related to the implementation of the standards and privacy provisions of the HIPAA? Do you have any concerns?

Contact Person for More Information: 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 440-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 home page of the HHS website: http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/ncvhs.

Dated: May 5, 1997.

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

[FR Doc. 97-12270 Filed 5-9-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4151-04-M