[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 6 (Thursday, January 9, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1336-1337]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-434]


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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 
meetings.

    Name: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), 
Subcommittee on Health Data Needs, Standards, and Security.
    Times and Dates:

9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., January 21, 1997.
9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., January 22, 1997.
9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., February 10, 1997.
9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., February 11, 1997.

    Place: Room 503A, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence 
Avenue, SW., Washington, D.C. 20201.
    Status: Open.
    Purpose: Under the Administrative Simplification subtitle of the 
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 
No. 104-191), the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required 
to adopt standards for specified transactions to enable health 
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. 
The Secretary is required to consult the NCVHS in complying with 
these provisions. As part of the consultation process, the Committee 
will submit recommendations to the Secretary during 1997.
    To assist in the development of the NCVHS recommendations to 
HHS, the NCVHS Subcommittee on Health Data Needs, Standards, and 
Security is holding a series of public meetings to obtain the views, 
perspectives and concerns of interested and affected parties. The 
Subcommittee recognizes that there are natural tensions which exist 
between those who generate the information which goes into these 
transactions and those who use the information. At the meetings, the 
Subcommittee will discuss these and other issues which may arise 
when a uniform set of standards must be implemented by all data 
generators and users. Generators of this data include hospitals, 
physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and other providers of 
health care. Users of this data include health insurers, health 
plans, researchers, and managers of quality, utilization and risk.
    For the meetings, specific organizations representing both the 
generators and users of this data will be invited by the 
Subcommittee to provide answers to the following questions in 
writing, to make brief oral presentations of their answers, and to 
answer further questions from the Subcommittee. Representatives of 
ANSI accredited Standards Developing Organizations will be asked to 
present their views of these issues as well.

Questions To Be Addressed

    1. What are your organization's expectations for the results of 
the Administrative Simplification standards requirements in the 
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)? 
In what ways will the outcome affect the members of your 
organization, both positively and negatively?
    2. Does your organization have any concerns about the process 
being undertaken by the Department of Health and Human Services to 
carry out the Administrative Simplification requirements of this 
law? If so, what are those concerns and what suggestions do you have 
for improvements?
    3. What major problems are experienced by the members of your 
organization with the current transactions specified under the 
HIPAA? For generators of the data, how readily available is the 
information that you need to provide for the transactions and how 
meaningful is that information from a clinical perspective? For 
users of the data, are you receiving the information you need from 
the transactions to pay the bill, manage the care process, etc., and 
what is your perception of its quality?
    4. How can the goal of administrative simplification best be 
achieved while meeting the business needs of all stakeholders?
    In addition, the Subcommittee will receive a presentation from 
the Health Care Financing Administration on unique identifiers for 
providers and payers on January 21. On January 22, the Subcommittee 
will discuss other business consistent with its charge.

    Notice: In the interest of security, the Department has 
instituted stringent procedures for entrance to the Hubert H. 
Humphrey building by non-government employees. Thus, persons without 
a government identification card should plan to arrive at the 
building each day either between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m. or 12:30 and 
1:00 p.m. so they can be escorted to the meeting. Entrance to the 
meeting at other times during the day cannot be assured.

    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Substantive program information

[[Page 1337]]

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 444-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 homepage: <a href="http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/ncvhs/
index.htm">http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/ncvhs/
index.htm</a>.

    Dated: January 2, 1997.
James Scanlon,
Director, Division of Data Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary 
for Planning and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 97-434 Filed 1-8-97; 8:45 am]
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