34046 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2012 / Notices 

Dated: May 31, 2012. 

Elaine L. Baker, 

Director, Management Analysis and Services 

Office, Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2012–13908 Filed 6–7–12; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

Advisory Committee to the Director 

(ACD), Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC)—Ethics 

Subcommittee (ES) 

In accordance with section 10(a)(2) of 

the Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(Pub. L. 92–463), the CDC announces 

the following meeting of the 

aforementioned subcommittee: 

Time and Date: 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. EDT, 

Friday, June 29, 2012. 

Place: Teleconference. 

Status: Open to the public, limited only by 

the availability of telephone ports. The 

public is welcome to participate during the 

public comment period. A public comment 

period is tentatively scheduled for 

12 p.m.–12:15 p.m. To participate in the 

teleconference, please dial (877) 928–1204 

and enter code 4305992. 

Purpose: The ES will provide counsel to 

the ACD, CDC, regarding a broad range of 

public health ethics questions and issues 

arising from programs, scientists and 

practitioners. 

Matters To Be Discussed: Agenda items 

will include the following: Addition of ethics 

standards to the accreditation process for 

public health departments; ethical 

considerations relating to use of travel 

restrictions for the control of communicable 

diseases and possible revisions to CDC’s 

standard operating procedures; progress on 

developing practical tools to assist state, 

tribal, local, and territorial health 

departments in their efforts to address public 

health ethics challenges; approaches for 

evaluating the impact of public health ethics; 

and strategies for increasing collaboration 

between public health ethics and public 

health law. 

The agenda is subject to change as 

priorities dictate. 

Contact Person for More Information: Drue 

Barrett, Ph.D., Designated Federal Officer, 

ACD, CDC–ES, 1600 Clifton Road NE., M/S 

D–50, Atlanta, Georgia 30333. Telephone: 

(404) 639–4690. Email: dbarrett@cdc.gov. 

The Director, Management Analysis and 

Services Office, has been delegated the 

authority to sign Federal Register Notices 

pertaining to announcements of meetings and 

other committee management activities, for 

both the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention and the Agency for Toxic 

Substances and Disease Registry. 

Dated: June 4, 2012. 

Elaine L. Baker, 

Director, Management Analysis and Services 

Office, Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2012–13922 Filed 6–7–12; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

[Document Identifier CMS–10434] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Proposed Collection; 

Comment Request; Webinars 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services, HHS. 

In compliance with the requirement 

of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services (CMS) is publishing the 

following summary of proposed 

collections for public comment. 

Interested persons are invited to send 

comments regarding this burden 

estimate or any other aspect of this 

collection of information, including any 

of the following subjects: (1) The 

necessity and utility of the proposed 

information collection for the proper 

performance of the agency’s functions; 

(2) the accuracy of the estimated 

burden; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and (4) the use of 

automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology to 

minimize the information collection 

burden. 

Type of Information Collection 

Request: New collection (request for a 

new OMB control number). Title of 

Information Collection: Medicaid and 

CHIP Program (MACPro). Use: 

Medicaid, authorized by Title XIX of the 

Social Security Act and, CHIP, 

reauthorized by the Children’s Health 

Insurance Program Reauthorization Act 

of 2009 (CHIPRA), play an important 

role in financing health care for 

approximately 48 million people 

throughout the country. By 2014, it is 

expected that an additional 16 million 

people will become eligible for 

Medicaid and CHIP as a result of the 

Affordable Care Act (Pub. L. 111–148). 

In order to implement the statute, CMS 

must provide a mechanism to ensure 

timely approval of Medicaid and CHIP 

State plans, waivers and demonstrations 

and provide a repository for all 

Medicaid and CHIP program data that 

supplies data to populate 

Healthcare.gov and other required 

reports. Additionally, 42 CFR 430.12 

sets forth the authority for the submittal 

and collection of State plans and plan 

amendment information. Pursuant to 

this requirement, CMS has created the 

MACPro system. 

Generally, MACPro will be used by 

both State and CMS officials to: Improve 

the State application and Federal review 

processes, improve Federal program 

management of Medicaid programs and 

CHIP, and standardize Medicaid 

program data. More specifically, it will 

be used by State agencies to (among 

other things): (1) Submit and amend 

Medicaid State Plans, CHIP State Plans, 

and Information System Advanced 

Planning Documents, and (2) submit 

applications and amendments for State 

waivers, demonstration, and benchmark 

and grant programs. It will be used by 

CMS to (among other things): (1) 

Provide for the review and disposition 

of applications, and (2) monitor and 

track application activity. 

This system will be operational in 

phases, beginning with this first phase 

or Phase 1, MACPro will include the 

following three authorities: State Plan 

and CHIP Eligibility, Alternative 

Benchmark plans, and 1115 Waiver 

Demonstration portions/modules to be 

implemented before January 1, 2013. 

A paper-based version of the MACPro 

instrument would be sizable and time 

consuming for interested parties to 

follow as a paper-based instrument. In 

our effort to provide the public with the 

most efficient means to make sense of 

the MACPro system, we will be 

conducting four webinars in lieu of 

including a paper-based version of 

MACPro on CMS’ PRA-related Web site. 

The webinars will be held: 

1. June 13, 2012, from 1 to 3 p.m. EST. 

2. June 20, 2012, from 1 to 3 p.m. EST. 

3. June 27, 2012, from 1 to 3 p.m. EST. 

4. July 11, 2012, from 1 to 3 p.m. EST. 

Please note that the webinars will be 

recorded by CMS and can be accessed 

by the public at http:// 

www.medicaid.gov/State-ResourceCenter/Events-and-Announcements/ 

Events-and-Announcements.html at any 

time during the duration of the public 

comment period. Each webinar will 

present the most current MACPro 

information so they are not expected to 

be identical. No login or password is 

needed. 

Form Number: CMS–10434 (OCN 

0938–New). Frequency: Annual and 

once. Affected Public: State, Local, or 

Tribal Governments. Number of 

Respondents: 56. Total Annual 

Responses: 15. Total Annual Hours: 

15,736 (or 5,245 hr for each of the three 

authorities). (For policy questions 

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2012 / Notices 34047 

regarding this collection contact Darlene 

Anderson at 410–786–9828. For all 

other issues call 410–786–1326.) 

To obtain copies of the supporting 

statement for the proposed paperwork 

collections referenced above, access 

CMS’ Web site address at http://www.

cms.hhs.gov/PaperworkReductionActof

1995, or Email your request, including 

your address, phone number, OMB 

number, and CMS document identifier, 

to Paperwork@cms.hhs.gov, or call the 

Reports Clearance Office on (410) 786– 

1326. 

In commenting on the proposed 

information collections please reference 

the document identifier or OMB control 

number. To be assured consideration, 

comments and recommendations must 

be submitted in one of the following 

ways by August 7, 2012: 

1. Electronically. You may submit 

your comments electronically to http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for ‘‘Comment or 

Submission’’ or ‘‘More Search Options’’ 

to find the information collection 

document(s) accepting comments. 

2. By regular mail. You may mail 

written comments to the following 

address: CMS, Office of Strategic 

Operations and Regulatory Affairs, 

Division of Regulations Development, 

Attention: Document Identifier CMS– 

10434, Room C4–26–05, 7500 Security 

Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21244– 

1850. 

Dated: June 4, 2012. 

Martique Jones, 

Director, Regulations Development Group, 

Division B Office of Strategic Operations and 

Regulatory Affairs. 

[FR Doc. 2012–13869 Filed 6–7–12; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

[CMS–3269–N] 

Medicare Program; Proposal 

Evaluation Criteria and Standards for 

End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) 

Network Organizations 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This notice describes the 

standards, criteria, and procedures we 

will use to evaluate an End-Stage Renal 

Disease (ESRD) Network Organization’s 

capabilities to perform, and actual 

performance of, the duties and functions 

under the ESRD Network Statement of 

Work (SOW). 

DATES: Effective Date: June 8, 2012. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Teresa Casey, 410–786–7215. Renee 

Dupee, 410–786–6747. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Section 1881(c) of the Social Security 

Act (the Act) authorized the 

establishment of, among other things, 

ESRD network areas and Network 

Organizations under the Medicare 

program to ensure the effective 

administration of the ESRD program 

benefits. We currently have contracts 

with ESRD Network Organizations to 

serve the 18 ESRD Network areas. 

The existing 18 ESRD Network 

contracts have been operating under the 

same Statement of Work (SOW) since 

2003 and have been renewed to 

continue to provide service to the ESRD 

population. Recent major policy and 

legislative changes have modernized 

Medicare payments for ESRD care. In 

particular, the Medicare Improvements 

for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) 

required the Secretary of the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (the Secretary) to implement an 

ESRD bundled payment system under 

which a single payment is made to a 

provider of services or a renal dialysis 

facility for renal dialysis services in lieu 

of any other payment. MIPPA also 

required the Secretary to establish an 

ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP). 

Additionally, a heightened focus on 

quality improvement, public reporting 

and value-based purchasing in 

healthcare has fueled a growing need for 

facility-level data collection; analysis; 

monitoring; trending; evaluating and 

intervening, where necessary, to 

improve patient care. We have also 

emphasized spreading and replicating 

the best practices of high performing 

providers. Therefore, a redesigned ESRD 

Network SOW was drafted to 

incorporate these priorities in 

healthcare and changes in legislation. 

The SOW will charge the ESRD Network 

Organizations with establishing 

relationships with patients, families and 

facilities within their Network areas to 

reach the objective of optimal patientcentered care. 

Section 1881(c)(1)(A)(ii)(I) of the Act 

provides that in order to determine 

whether the Secretary should enter into, 

continue, or terminate an agreement 

with an ESRD Network Organization, 

the Secretary shall develop and publish 

in the Federal Register standards, 

criteria, and procedures used to evaluate 

an ESRD Network Organization’s 

capabilities to perform, and actual 

performance of, the network functions 

required by section 1881(c)(2) of the 

Act. These functions are to: 

• Encourage participation in 

vocational rehabilitation programs, and 

develop criteria and standards relating 

to this participation. 

• Evaluate the procedures used by 

facilities and providers in the network 

to assess patients for placement in 

appropriate treatment modalities. 

• Implement a procedure for 

evaluating and resolving patient 

grievances. 

• Conduct onsite reviews of facilities 

and providers as necessary (as 

determined by a medical review board 

or the Secretary) using standards of care 

established by the ESRD Network 

Organization. 

• Collect, validate, and analyze data 

necessary to prepare the required 

annual report to the Secretary and to 

ensure the maintenance of a national 

ESRD registry. 

• Identify facilities and providers that 

are not cooperatively working toward 

meeting network goals, and assist those 

facilities and providers in developing 

plans for correction, as well as report to 

the Secretary on those facilities and 

providers that are not providing 

appropriate care. 

• Submit an annual report to the 

Secretary on July 1 of each year. 

Shortly after the publication of this 

Federal Register notice, we will post a 

Request for Proposals (RFP) to perform 

the work of the redesigned ESRD 

Network SOW on the Fed Biz Opps Web 

site (www.fbo.gov). The RFP will 

competitively award a portion of the 18 

ESRD Network contracts using a best 

value process in accordance with 

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 

Part 15. The remaining ESRD Network 

contracts will be renewed and competed 

at a later date. The period of 

performance for these ESRD Network 

contracts will be one 12-month base 

year which begins on January 1, 2013 

and ends on December 31, 2013, with 

two 12-month option periods. We may 

exercise an option in accordance with 

the FAR Part 17.2, and it may terminate 

a contract for convenience or for default, 

in accordance with FAR Part 49. This 

notice describes the capabilities that an 

applicant must demonstrate to be 

awarded an ESRD Network contract and 

the general criteria that will be used to 

evaluate the ESRD Network 

Organizations performing under the 

SOW. 

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