12004 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 38 / Monday, March 1, 2021 / Notices 

used to strengthen the evidence-base of 

CDC’s Pre-Pandemic Guidance prior to 

the next pandemic. 

School children are frequently the 

main introducers of influenza to their 

families. Evaluating influenza 

transmission within households where 

students are absent from school because 

of ILI may serve as an additional layer 

of influenza surveillance and could 

contribute to understanding of influenza 

transmission dynamics within the 

surrounding community. This aims to 

enhance current knowledge and 

understanding around the introduction 

of influenza infection to households that 

have school-age children, as well as 

within-household influenza 

transmission. 

CDC requests a three-year approval for 

this Reinstatment. Estimated annualized 

burden hours requested for this 

collection are 449. There is no cost to 

respondents other than their time. 

ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Type of respondents Form name Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden per 

response 

(in hours) 

Total burden 

(in hours) 

Parent/guardians of students or students 18 or older.Screening Form ................................ 345 1 5/60 29 

Parent/guardians of students or students 18 or older.Acute Respiratory Infection and Influenza Surveillance Form.300 1 15/60 75 

Student .............................................. Biospecimen Collection Day 0 ......... 300 1 5/60 25 

Household Members ......................... Household Study Form Days 0, 7, 

14.

720 3 5/60 120 

Parent/guardians of students or students 18 or older.Household Study Form Days 7, 14 300 2 5/60 80 

Household Members ......................... Biospecimen Collection Days 0, 7, 

14.

720 3 5/60 120 

Total ........................................... ........................................................... ........................ ........................ ........................ 449 

Jeffrey M. Zirger, 

Lead, Information Collection Review Office, 

Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of Science, 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2021–04179 Filed 2–26–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

Notice of Withdrawal of Development 

of Computed Tomography (CT) Image 

Quality and Safety Hospital Measures 

Funding Opportunity 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS), Department 

of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Withdrawal notice. 

SUMMARY: This notice withdraws the 

‘‘Development of Computed 

Tomography (CT) Image Quality and 

Safety Hospital Measures’’ notice that 

published in the Federal Register on 

January 5, 2021. That notice announced 

a funding opportunity to seek an 

application for a single source, 

cooperative agreement, to develop a 

radiology electronic clinical quality 

measure(s) (eCQM) for the following 

CMS hospital programs: Hospital 

Inpatient Quality Reporting Program 

(IQR); Hospital Outpatient Quality 

Reporting Program (OQR); and 

Promoting Interoperability Program for 

Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access 

Hospitals—formerly Meaningful Use 

(PI). CMS will no longer provide 

support through a cooperative 

agreement in its planning, technical 

assistance, and reporting needs related 

to submission of a fully developed and 

tested radiology measures to the 2021 

Measures Under Consideration (MUC) 

List in May 2021. 

DATES: The notice published at 86 FR 

306 on January 5, 2021, is withdrawn as 

of February 25, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Janis Grady, (410) 786–7217, for 

programmatic questions or concerns. 

Monica Anderson, (410) 786–2988, for 

administrative and compliance 

concerns. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

CMS has determined that current 

delays will not allow adequate time for 

the measures to be developed to meet 

internal deadlines, as such the 

determination is made to withdraw the 

January 5, 2021 Federal Register notice. 

CMS will no longer provide support 

through a single source cooperative 

agreement in its planning, technical 

assistance, and reporting needs related 

to submission of a fully developed and 

tested radiology measures to the 2021 

Measures Under Consideration (MUC) 

List in May 2021. 

II. Provisions of the Notice 

This notice withdraws the solicitation 

notice that we published in the Federal 

Register on January 5, 2021. For this 

Notice of Funding Opportunity, CMS 

will no longer accept an application for 

development of radiology electronic 

clinical quality measures (eCQM) that 

fill an existing gap or need and are high 

impact. 

III. Collection of Information 

Requirements 

This document does not impose 

information collection requirements, 

that is, reporting, recordkeeping or 

third-party disclosure requirements. 

Consequently, there is no need for 

review by the Office of Management and 

Budget under the authority of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). 

The Acting Administrator of the 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services (CMS), Elizabeth Richter, 

having reviewed and approved this 

document, authorizes Lynette Wilson, 

who is the Federal Register Liaison, to 

electronically sign this document for 

purposes of publication in the Federal 

Register. 

Authority: Programmatic Authority of the 

Social Security Act, Titles XI, XVIII, XIX, 

XXI. 

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 38 / Monday, March 1, 2021 / Notices 12005 

Dated: February 24, 2021. 

Lynette Wilson, 

Federal Liaison, Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services. 

[FR Doc. 2021–04130 Filed 2–25–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

[CMS–3400–FN] 

Medicare and Medicaid Programs; 

Application From the Accreditation 

Commission for Health Care (ACHC) 

for Continued Approval of its Home 

Health Agency Accreditation Program 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS), Department 

of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Final notice. 

SUMMARY: This final notice announces 

our decision to approve The 

Accreditation Commission for Health 

Care (ACHC) for continued recognition 

as a national accrediting organization 

for home health agencies (HHAs) that 

wish to participate in the Medicare or 

Medicaid programs. An HHA that 

participates in Medicaid must also meet 

the Medicare conditions of participation 

(CoPs). 

DATES: This decision announced in this 

final notice is effective February 24, 

2021 through February 24, 2025. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tara 

Lemons (410) 786–3030. Lillian 

Williams (410) 786–8636. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Under the Medicare program, eligible 

beneficiaries may receive covered 

services from a home health agency 

(HHA), provided certain requirements 

are met. Sections 1861(m) and (o), 1891 

and 1895 of the Social Security Act (the 

Act) establish distinct criteria for an 

entity seeking designation as an HHA. 

Regulations concerning provider 

agreements are at 42 CFR part 489 and 

those pertaining to activities relating to 

the survey and certification of facilities 

and other entities are at 42 CFR part 

488. The regulations at 42 CFR parts 409 

and 484 specify the conditions that an 

HHA must meet to participate in the 

Medicare program, the scope of covered 

services and the conditions for Medicare 

payment for home health care. 

Generally, to enter into a provider 

agreement with the Medicare program, 

an HHA must first be certified by a state 

survey agency as complying with the 

conditions or requirements set forth in 

42 CFR part 484 of our regulations. 

Thereafter, the HHA is subject to regular 

surveys by a state survey agency to 

determine whether it continues to meet 

these requirements. However, there is 

an alternative to certification surveys by 

state agencies. Accreditation by a 

nationally recognized Medicare 

accreditation program approved by CMS 

may substitute for both initial and 

ongoing state review. 

Section 1865(a)(1) of the Act provides 

that, if a provider entity demonstrates 

through accreditation by an approved 

national accrediting organization that all 

applicable Medicare conditions are met 

or exceeded, we will deem those 

provider entities as having met our 

requirements. Accreditation by an 

accrediting organization is voluntary 

and is not required for Medicare 

participation. 

If an accrediting organization is 

recognized by the Secretary of Health 

and Human Services (the Secretary) as 

having standards for accreditation that 

meet or exceed Medicare requirements, 

any provider entity accredited by the 

national accrediting body’s approved 

program would be deemed to meet the 

Medicare conditions. A national 

accrediting organization applying for 

CMS approval of their accreditation 

program under 42 CFR part 488, subpart 

A, must provide CMS with reasonable 

assurance that the accrediting 

organization requires the accredited 

provider entities to meet requirements 

that are at least as stringent as the 

Medicare conditions. Our regulations 

concerning the approval of accrediting 

organizations are set forth at § 488.5. 

Section 488.5(e)(2)(i) requires 

accrediting organizations to reapply for 

continued approval of its Medicare 

accreditation program every 6 years or 

sooner as determined by CMS. 

The Accreditation Commission for 

Health Care (ACHC’s) term of approval 

for their HHA accreditation program 

expires February 24, 2021. 

II. Application Approval Process 

Section 1865(a)(3)(A) of the Act 

provides a statutory timetable to ensure 

that our review of applications for CMSapproval of an accreditation program is 

conducted in a timely manner. The Act 

provides us 210 days after the date of 

receipt of a complete application, with 

any documentation necessary to make 

the determination, to complete our 

survey activities and application 

process. Within 60 days after receiving 

a complete application, we must 

publish a notice in the Federal Register 

that identifies the national accrediting 

body making the request, describes the 

request, and provides no less than a 30- 

day public comment period. At the end 

of the 210-day period, we must publish 

a notice in the Federal Register 

approving or denying the application. 

III. Provisions of the Proposed Notice 

In the September 28, 2020 Federal 

Register (85 FR 60796), we published a 

proposed notice announcing ACHC’s 

request for continued approval of its 

Medicare HHA accreditation program. 

In the September 28, 2020 proposed 

notice, we detailed our evaluation 

criteria. Under section 1865(a)(2) of the 

Act and in our regulations at § 488.5, we 

conducted a review of ACHC’s Medicare 

HHA accreditation application in 

accordance with the criteria specified by 

our regulations, which include, but are 

not limited to the following: 

• An administrative review of 

ACHC’s: (1) Corporate policies; (2) 

financial and human resources available 

to accomplish the proposed surveys; (3) 

procedures for training, monitoring, and 

evaluation of its HHA surveyors; (4) 

ability to investigate and respond 

appropriately to complaints against 

accredited HHAs; and (5) survey review 

and decision-making process for 

accreditation. 

• The comparison of ACHC’s 

Medicare HHA accreditation program 

standards to our current Medicare 

conditions of participation (CoPs) for 

HHAs. 

• A documentation review of ACHC’s 

survey process to do the following: 

++ Determine the composition of the 

survey team, surveyor qualifications, 

and ACHC’s ability to provide 

continuing surveyor training. 

++ Compare ACHC’s processes to 

those we require of state survey 

agencies, including periodic resurvey 

and the ability to investigate and 

respond appropriately to complaints 

against accredited HHAs. 

++ Evaluate ACHC’s procedures for 

monitoring HHAs it has found to be out 

of compliance with ACHC’s program 

requirements. (This pertains only to 

monitoring procedures when ACHC 

identifies non-compliance. If 

noncompliance is identified by a state 

survey agency through a validation 

survey, the state survey agency monitors 

corrections as specified at § 488.9(c)). 

++ Assess ACHC’s ability to report 

deficiencies to the surveyed HHAs and 

respond to the HHAs plan of correction 

in a timely manner. 

++ Establish ACHC’s ability to 

provide CMS with electronic data and 

reports necessary for effective validation 

and assessment of the organization’s 

survey process.