67388 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 24, 1997 / Notices

F3 = 5 because the duration of the study was

only 13 weeks.

F4 = 1 because no severe toxicity was

encountered.

F5 = 1 because the no effect level was

determined.

TABLE A3.1—VALUES USED IN THE CALCULATIONS IN THIS DOCUMENT

Rat body weight 425 g Mouse respiratory volume 43 liter (L)/day

Pregnant rat body weight 330 g Rabbit respiratory volume 1,440 L/day

Mouse body weight 28 g Guinea pig respiratory volume 430 L/day

Pregnant mouse body weight 30 g Human respiratory volume 28,800 L/day

Guinea pig body weight 500 g Dog respiratory volume 9,000 L/day

Rhesus monkey body weight 2.5 kg Monkey respiratory volume 1,150 L/day

Rabbit body weight (pregnant or not) 4 kg Mouse water consumption 5 milliliter (mL)/day

Beagle dog body weight 11.5 kg Rat water consumption 30 mL/day

Rat respiratory volume 290 L/day Rat food consumption 30 g/day

The equation for an ideal gas, PV = nRT, is

used to convert concentrations of gases used

in inhalation studies from units of ppm to

units of mg/L or mg/cubic meter (m3).

Consider as an example the rat reproductive

toxicity study by inhalation of carbon

tetrachloride (molecular weight 153.84)

summarized in Pharmeuropa, Vol. 9, No. 1,

Supplement, April 1997, page S9.

n

V

P

RT

atm mg mol

L atm K mol K

mg

L = = mg L

× ×

× = =

− −

− −

300 10 153840

0 082 298

46 15

24.45

1 89

6 1

1 1 .

. . /

The relationship 1000 L = 1 m3 is used to

convert to mg/m3.

Dated: December 16, 1997.

William K. Hubbard,

Associate Commissioner for Policy

Coordination.

[FR Doc. 97–33639 Filed 12–23–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160–01–F

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Health Care Financing Administration

[Form #HCFA–R–224]

Emergency Clearance: Public

Information Collection Requirements

Submitted to the Office of Management

and Budget (OMB)

In compliance with the requirement

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

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the

Health Care Financing Administration

(HCFA), Department of Health and

Human Services (DHSS), has submitted

to the Office of Management and Budget

(OMB) the following request for

Emergency review. We are requesting an

emergency review because the

collection of this information is needed

prior to the expiration of the normal

time limits under OMB’s regulations at

5 CFR, Part 1320. The Agency cannot

reasonably comply with the normal

clearance procedures because of a

statutory deadline imposed by section

1853(a)(3) of the Balanced Budget Act of

1997. Without this information, HCFA

would not be able to properly

implement the requirements set forth in

the statute.

HCFA is requesting OMB review and

approval of this collection by 12/31/97,

with a 180-day approval period. Written

comments and recommendations will be

accepted from the public if received by

the individual designated below, by 12/

29/97.

During this 180-day period HCFA will

pursue OMB clearance of this collection

as stipulated by 5 CFR 1320.5.

Type of Information Collection

Request: New collection;

Title of Information Collection:

Collection of Managed Care Data Using

the Uniform Institutional Providers

Form (HCFA–1450/UB–92) and

Supporting Statute Section 1853(a)(3) of

the Balanced budget Act of 1997;

Form No.: HCFA–R–224;

Use: Section 1853(a)(3) of the

Balanced Budget Act (BBA) requires

Medicare+Choice organizations, as well

as eligible organizations with risksharing contracts under section 1876, to

submit encounter data. Data regarding

inpatient hospital services are required

for periods beginning on or after July 1,

1997. These data may be collected

starting January 1, 1998. Other data (as

the Secretary deems necessary) may be

required beginning July 1, 1998.

The BBA also requires the Secretary

to implement a risk adjustment

methodology that accounts for variation

in per capita costs based on health

status. This payment method must be

implemented no later than January 1,

2000. The encounter data are necessary

to implement a risk adjustment

methodology.

Hospital data from the period, July 1,

1997—June 30, 1998, will serve as the

basis for plan-level estimates of risk

adjusted payments. These estimates will

be provided to plans by March, 1999.

Encounter data collected from

subsequent time periods will serve as

the basis for actual payments to plans

for CY 2000 and beyond.

In implementing the requirements of

the BBA, hospitals will submit data to

the managed care plan for enrollees who

have a hospital discharge using the

HCFA–1450 (UB–92), Uniform

Institutional Provider Claim Form.

Encounter data for hospital discharges

occurring on or after July 1, 1997 are

required. While submission from the

hospital to the plan is required, plans

are provided with a start-up period

during which time an alternate

submission route is permitted.
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 24, 1997 / Notices 67389

The six month start up period,

beginning January 1, 1998 will enable

plans to accomplish the requirements of

the BBA by the end of the start-up

period, or June 30, 1998. Special

procedures have been identified to

ensure that hospital encounter data are

submitted for discharges occurring on or

after July 1, 1997 and before June 30,

1998. The special procedures for the

start up period include the following:

1. In order to provide plans with an

estimate of their Average Payment Rate

(APR) by March, 1999, HCFA must

receive data on hospital discharges that

occurred on or after July 1, 1997 and

before December 31, 1997, as well as

encounter data on discharges that occur

during the start up period, or January 1,

1998 through June 30, 1998. Currently,

most plans do not have the capacity to

submit data electronically to a fiscal

intermediary (FI), and the FIs are not

capable of receiving these data.

Therefore, during this period only,

unless an alternative approach is

approved by HCFA, hospitals must

submit completed UB–92s for the Plan’s

enrollees. These pseudo-claims must be

submitted to the hospital’s regular fiscal

intermediary. This is a current

requirement for hospitals, and they are

expected to comply with this

requirement throughout this period.

Plans must provide hospitals with the

Medicare identification number of all

enrollees admitted who have Medicare

coverage.

If hospitals are unable to submit these

data on behalf of the plan during the

start-up period, an alternate method of

submitting the data may be developed

by HCFA. If such a method is

developed, it would require the plans to

submit a subset of data elements that are

found on the UB–92. Possible data

elements include the following: Plan

Contract Number; HIC (or Medicare

Identification Number); enrollee’s name;

enrollee’s state and county of residence;

enrollee’s birthdate and gender;

Medicare Provider Number for the

Hospital; claim from and thru date;

admission date; and principal and

secondary diagnoses codes. HCFA will

specify the data elements, submission

route, and format for these data.

2. During the start up period, the plan

is expected to establish an electronic

data linkage to a FI to be determined by

HCFA. By June 30, 1998, the Plan is

expected to have completed this

linkage, including testing of the linkage,

and to be capable of transmitting

hospital encounter data to a FI. All data

submitted after July 1, 1998 will be

transmitted using this linkage. (See

Attachment 1 for additional information

on the transmission of data to HCFA.)

Each plan and/or contract will use a

single FI.

HCFA will establish a series of

interim deadlines to ensure that plans

are making sufficient progress toward

accomplishing this linkage no later than

June 30, 1998. HCFA will assist plans in

initiating discussions with their FI.

After plans have established linkages

to a FI, hospitals will submit HCFA–

1450 (UB–92) forms to the managed care

plan. The HCFA–1450 (UB92) form is

identical to the one used by hospitals in

billing for Medicare fee-for-service

claims. After receiving the pseudo claim

from the hospital, the plan attaches the

plan identifier, which is the HCFA

assigned managed care organization

(MCO) Contract Number, and submits

the pseudo-claim electronically to the

fiscal intermediary (FI). The data

processing flow by the FI is very similar

to current claims processing for the feefor-service system, except that no

payment is authorized to the plan.

Pseudo claims will flow though the FI

to our Common Working File (CWF) and

will be retained by HCFA;

Frequency: On occasion;

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit, not-for-profit institutions, and

Federal government;

Number of Respondents: 6,700;

Total Annual Responses: 1.9 million;

Total Annual Hours: 32,833.

To obtain copies of the supporting

statement and any related forms for the

proposed paperwork collections

referenced above, E-mail your request,

including your address, phone number,

and HCFA form number(s) referenced

above, to Paperwork@hcfa.gov, or call

the Reports Clearance Office on (410)

786–1326.

Interested persons are invited to send

comments regarding the burden or any

other aspect of these collections of

information requirements. However, as

noted above, comments on these

information collection and

recordkeeping requirements must be

mailed and/or faxed to the designee

referenced below, by 12/29/97:

Office of Information and Regulatory

Affairs, Office of Management and

Budget, Room 10235, New Executive

Office Building, Washington, DC

20503, Fax Number: (202) 395–6974

or (202) 395–5167, Attn: Allison

Herron Eydt, HCFA Desk Officer.

Dated: December 16, 1997.

John P. Burke III,

HCFA Reports Clearance Officer, HCFA,

Office of Information Services, Information

Technology Investment Management Group,

Division of HCFA Enterprise Standards.

[FR Doc. 97–33556 Filed 12–23–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4120–03–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Health Care Financing Administration

Announcement of Office of

Management and Budget (OMB)

Control Numbers for Agency

Information Collections Approved

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of

1995

AGENCY: Health Care Financing

Administration.

This notice announces and displays

OMB control numbers for Health Care

Financing Administration (HCFA)

information collections that have been

approved by OMB.

Under OMB’s regulations

implementing the Paperwork Reduction

Act (PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501, each agency

that proposes to collect information

must submit its proposal for OMB

review and approval in accordance with

5 C.F.R. Part 1320. Once OMB has

approved an agency’s proposed

collection of information and issues a

control number, the agency must

display the control number.

OMB regulations provide for

alternative methods of displaying OMB

control numbers. In the case of

collections of information published in

regulations, display is to be ‘‘provided

in a manner that is reasonably

calculated to inform the public.’’ To

meet this requirement an agency may

display such information in the Federal

Register by publishing such information

in the preamble or the regulatory text,

or in a technical amendment to the

regulation, or in a separate notice

announcing OMB approval of the

collection of information.

To comply with this requirement

HCFA has chosen to publish this notice

announcing OMB approval of the

collections of information published in

regulations. As stated above, this notice

announces and displays the assigned

OMB control numbers for HCFA’s

information collections that have been

approved by OMB.

42 CFR OMB control Nos.

403.210 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 0938–0640