24972 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 83 / Friday, April 28, 2000 / Notices

Written Questions or Statements: We

will accept written questions or other

statements, not to exceed two (2) singlespaced, typed pages, preferably before

the meeting, but until May 30, 2000.

ADDRESSES:

The Meeting: The meeting will be

held at the Doubletree Hotel Pentagon

City National Airport, 300 Army Navy

Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22202. The

hotel phone number is (703) 416–4100.

Written Questions or Statements:

Send written questions or other

statements to: Eugene Freund, MD,

Clinical Advisor, Quality Improvement

Group, Office of Clinical Standards and

Quality, Health Care Financing

Administration, S3–02–01, 7500

Security Boulevard, Baltimore,

Maryland 21244–1850.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Monica L. Jackson, JW Associates, LLC;

phone: (301) 495–9471; fax: (301) 495–

5989; email: mjackson@jwallc.com.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Provisions of This Notice

We are announcing the second in a

series of Town Hall Meetings to provide

a forum for health care entities and

organizations (including practitioners,

providers, health plans, other

purchasers, beneficiaries and other

interested parties) to partner on health

care quality improvement projects

relating to the activities of the PRO

Sixth Round Contract, (also known as

the PRO sixth Scope of Work, or 6th

SOW). The meeting is open to the

public, but attendance is limited to

space available. Individuals must

register in advance as described in

section II of this notice.

The meeting will address partnering

on quality improvement projects in both

managed care and fee-for-service

settings. The meeting will present

models of existing partnerships

involving the following entities:

—PROs, clinicians, and hospitals.

—PROs and business coalitions.

—Associations and communities.

—HCFA and accrediting bodies.

Additionally, we are very interested

in receiving suggestions for additional

approaches to collaborating with

stakeholders sharing one or more of our

quality improvement goals. There will

be ample time allotted at the meeting for

questions and suggestions.

We will also address concerns and

issues regarding how partnering with

the PROs can achieve quality

improvements for Medicare

beneficiaries as well as improved billing

and payment accuracy. This second

Town Hall Meeting will also provide an

opportunity for further information

exchange concerning the Health Care

Quality Improvement Program (HCQIP)

activities delineated in the PRO Sixth

Round Contract under the clinical

topics described as Tasks 1, 2 and 3.

Task 1 concerns National Quality

Improvement Projects which focus on

national health improvement clinical

topics (for example, Acute Myocardial

Infarction, Breast Cancer, Diabetes,

Heart Failure, Pneumonia, and Stroke/

Transient Ischemic Attack/Atrial

Fibrillation). The PROs, in conjunction

with their partners, will use

standardized sets of quality indicators to

identify the greatest opportunities to

improve the care of Medicare

beneficiaries in these clinical topic

areas.

Task 2, Local Quality Improvement

Projects, directs each PRO to initiate

local projects within its State, in

response to local interests, needs and

opportunities. We are interested in

increasing the PROs’ experience in

collaborating with providers,

practitioners, plans, purchasers and

beneficiaries to improve the quality of

care they deliver. We are also interested

in testing quality indicators and

intervention strategies that reflect care

in settings other than acute care

hospitals and Medicare+Choice plans,

as well as those that contribute to

reducing the disparities in the quality of

care delivered to members of

disadvantaged groups.

Task 3 concerns Quality Improvement

Projects in conjunction with

Medicare+Choice (M+C) Plans. This

task requires each PRO to offer its

assistance to M+C Plans to implement

quality improvement projects as part of

the Quality Improvement System for

Managed Care (QISMC) standards. Each

M+C Plan must initiate two

performance improvement projects

annually.

Task 4, which is not on the agenda for

this meeting, concerns the Payment

Error Prevention Program (PEPP). It is a

modified review activity that is

intended to identify opportunities for

improvement in the billing process to

reduce the occurrence of incorrect

payments resulting from billing errors. It

is a cooperative program and includes

no punitive actions. Errors may include

both over billings and under billings.

The error rate will be the total dollars

paid, both above and below the correct

amount. In the first year of the PROs 6th

Round Contract, the PROs will conduct

PEPP in two areas: unnecessary

admissions and miscoded DRG

assignments.

II. Registration and Rooms

JW Associates, LLC, is registering

interested parties for the meeting. You

may register by sending a fax to the For

Further Information Contact.

Registration forms may also be found on

the Internet at www.jwallc.com. Please

include your name, affiliation, address,

telephone number, e-mail and fax

number on your registration form. A

number of rooms have been set aside for

meeting attendees. To reserve a room,

please contact the hotel directly.

III. Meeting Materials

All meeting materials will be

provided at the time of the meeting. A

summary of the initial July 1999

Partnership Town Hall Meeting can be

found at the following website:

www.hcfa.gov/quality/qlty-5b.htm.

Authority: Section 1102 of the Social

Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1302).

Dated: April 25, 2000.

Nancy-Ann Min DeParle,

Administrator, Health Care Financing

Administration.

[FR Doc. 00–10710 Filed 4–27–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services

Administration

Agency Information Collection

Activities: Submission for OMB

Review; Comment Request

Periodically, the Health Resources

and Services Administration (HRSA)

publishes abstracts of information

collection requests under review by the

Office of Management and Budget, in

compliance with the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.

Chapter 35). To request a copy of the

clearance requests submitted to OMB for

review, call the HRSA Reports

Clearance Office on (301) 443–1129.

The following request has been

submitted to the Office of Management

and Budget for review under the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995:

Proposed Project: The Ryan White

CARE Act Client Demonstration Project

Reporting System: NEW The Client

Demonstration Project was established

in 1994 to collect information from

several Title I and Title II grantees and

their subcontracted service providers

about their individual clients.

Demographic information, service

utilization, and health indicators of all

clients receiving services at providers

funded by the Ryan White

Comprehensive AIDS Resources

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 83 / Friday, April 28, 2000 / Notices 24973

Emergency (CARE) Act are collected

twice each year. A unique identifier is

used to protect the anonymity of the

clients, and as a further safeguard, this

unique identifier is encrypted before it

is sent to HRSA.

HRSA initiated the CDP to

demonstrate (1) the feasibility of

collecting client level demographic and

service data on HIV/AIDS infected/

affected clients across a network of

service providers and (2) the usefulness

of these data for planning and

evaluation purposes at both the local

and national levels. Through this

system, HRSA sought to overcome the

limitations of the Annual

Administrative Report (AAR), the

national reporting system for the Ryan

White CARE Act. The AAR collects data

aggregated at the grantee level and has

duplicated counts of clients. The

number of clients reported in the AAR

overestimates the true number of

clients. In addition, AAR data are not

tied to any clinical or service outcome

information at the client level. The

feasibility of collecting client data has

been demonstrated. The usefulness of

these data for planning and evaluation

purposes at both the local and national

level has become increasingly evident.

A number of client level analyses that

were not possible with the AAR have

been undertaken.

In addition to meeting the goal of

accountability to Congress, clients,

advocacy groups, and the general

public, the CDP supports critical efforts

by HRSA, state and local grantees, and

providers to assess the health outcomes

and the service utilization patterns of

the individuals at these sites who are

infected or affected by HIV/AIDS and

receive care at a provider funded by the

Ryan White CARE Act.

Outcome specific and treatment

measures are collected in the data

system. These data elements seek to

document whether current standards of

care as established by the Public Health

Service are being adhered to at these

Ryan White CARE Act facilities. The

core set of data elements are largely

unchanged from the AAR. Minor

changes in the demographic data

elements have been made as a result of

meetings and input from the current

grantees and their providers.

The estimated response burden is as

follows:

Medical records source Number of

respondents

Responses

per

respondent

Total

responses Burden hour Total burdenhours

Providers with < 260 Clients ................................................ 160 83 13,280 .5 6,640

Providers with >/= 260 Clients ............................................. 42 929 39,018 .5 19,509

Total ....................................................................... 202 52,298 26,149

Written comments and

recommendations concerning the

proposed information collection should

be sent within 30 days of this notice to:

Wendy A. Taylor, Human Resources

and Housing Branch, Office of

Management and Budget, New

Executive Office Building, Room 10235,

Washington, DC, 20503.

Dated: April 24, 2000.

Jane Harrison,

Director, Division of Policy Review and

Coordination.

[FR Doc. 00–10632 Filed 4–27–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160–15–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service

Request for Public Comment: 30 Day;

Proposed Collection: Evaluation of the

Indian Health Service/Bureau of Indian

Affairs Training Practitioners Project

SUMMARY: In compliance with Section

3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995, for opportunity

for public comment on proposed

information collection projects, the

Indian Health Service (IHS) has

submitted to the Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) a request to review

and approve the information collection

listed below. This proposed information

collection project was published in the

January 14, 1999, Federal Register (65

FR 2417) and allowed 60 days for public

comment. No public comment was

received in response to the notice. The

purpose of this notice is to allow 30

days for public comment to be

submitted to OMB.

Proposed Collection

Title: 09–17–0000, ‘‘Evaluation of the

Indian Health Service/Bureau of Indian

Affairs Training Practitioners Project’’.

Type of Information Collection

Request: New collection. Form Number:

None. Need and Use of Information

Collection: The purpose of the proposed

data collection is to evaluate and assess

the overall effectiveness of the Indian

Health Service (IHS) and Bureau of

Indian Affairs (BIA) inter-agency

sponsored national training project

titled, ‘‘IHS/BIA Training Practitioners

in the Assessment and Treatment of

Adolescent Sexual Perpetrators,’’

conducted from 1993–1996 in 18

American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN)

communities. The training project was

established to provide mental health

practitioners in AI/AN communities

specialized training for the provision of

mental health assessment and treatment

services to juvenile sex offenders. The

data collected is needed to assess

respondent satisfaction/dissatisfaction

with the training project, the clinical

success/failure of the training on the

juvenile sex offenders, the impact of

using traditional healing treatment

services with juvenile sex offenders, and

to obtain recommendations for future

clinical program planning. Affected

Public: Individuals and households,

State, Local or Tribal Government. Type

of Respondents: Health care providers,

juveniles, parent/caretakers, and various

community members. Please see Table 1

for a listing of data collection

instruments, estimated number of

respondents, number of responses per

respondent, annual number of

responses, average burden hour per

response, and total annual burden hour.