Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 193 / Friday, October 3, 2008 / Notices 57631 

executive, physician, and clinical 

engagement. Hospitals leaders will take 

the HLQAT instrument via Web-based 

technology. This function will be 

carried out in conjunction with CMS 

and the Quality Improvement 

Organization (QIO) 9th Scope of Work 

(SOW), to convey the importance of this 

effort in relation to Medicare and other 

public priorities. This administration of 

the HLQAT seeks responses from 

approximately a dozen leaders in each 

hospital, including physicians (e.g., 

CEO, CMO), board members, directorlevel, and mid-level clinical managers— 

these responses can provide a multilevel representation of hospital 

leadership showing its commitment to 

institutional change. Form Number: 

CMS–10272 (OMB# 0938–New); 

Frequency: Occasionally; Affected 

Public: Private Sector—Business or 

Other for-profits; Number of 

Respondents: 18,000; Total Annual 

Responses: 36,000; Total Annual Hours: 

44,820. 

4. Type of Information Collection 

Request: New collection; Title of 

Information Collection: Emergency and 

Non-Emergency Ambulance Transports 

and Beneficiary Signature Requirements 

in 42 CFR 424.36(b); Use: In the CY 

2008 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final 

rule with comment period, we created 

an additional exception to the 

beneficiary signature requirements in 

§ 424.36(b) for emergency ambulance 

transports (72 FR 66406). The exception 

allows ambulance providers and 

suppliers to sign the claim on behalf of 

the beneficiary, at the time of transport, 

provided that certain documentation 

requirements are met. Following 

publication of the CY 2008 PFS final 

rule with comment period, ambulance 

provider and supplier stakeholders 

requested that we extend the exception 

in § 424.36(b)(6) to non-emergency 

ambulance transports, in instances 

where the beneficiary is physically or 

mentally incapable of signing the claim 

form. 

The current submission of this 

information collection request relates to 

the collection of documentation 

pertaining to non-emergency ambulance 

transports. In addition, we are updating 

the collection of information that relates 

to the collection of documentation 

pertaining to emergency ambulance 

transports. Form Number: CMS–10242 

(OMB# 0938–1049); Frequency: 

Occasionally; Affected Public: Private 

Sector—Business or Other for-profits 

and Not-for-profit institutions; Number 

of Respondents: 9,000; Total Annual 

Responses: 13,185,835; Total Annual 

Hours: 1,098,819. 

To obtain copies of the supporting 

statement and any related forms for the 

proposed paperwork collections 

referenced above, access CMS’ Web Site 

at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ 

PaperworkReductionActof1995, 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 December 2, 2008. 

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/OMB Control 

Number lll, Room C4–26–05, 7500 

Security Boulevard, Baltimore, 

Maryland 21244–1850. 

Dated: September 26, 2008. 

Michelle Shortt, 

Director, Regulations Development Group, 

Office of Strategic Operations and Regulatory 

Affairs. 

[FR Doc. E8–23414 Filed 10–2–08; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

[Document Identifier: CMS–10261, CMS– 

10182, CMS–10166 and CMS–10150] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Submission for OMB 

Review; Comment Request 

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), Department of Health 

and Human Services, 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 function; 

(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. 

1.Type of Information Collection 

Request: New collection; Title of 

Information Collection: Part C Medicare 

Advantage (MA) Reporting 

Requirements and Supporting 

Regulations in 42 CFR 422.516 (a); Use: 

CMS has authority to establish reporting 

requirements for Medicare Advantage 

Organizations (MAOs) as described in 

42 CFR 422.516(a). Under that authority, 

each MAO must have an effective 

procedure to develop, compile, 

evaluate, and report to CMS, to its 

enrollees, and to the general public, at 

the times and in the manner that CMS 

requires, and while safeguarding the 

confidentiality of the doctor-patient 

relationship, statistics and other 

information with respect to the cost of 

its operations, patterns of service 

utilization, availability, accessibility, 

and acceptability of its services, 

developments in the health status of its 

enrollees, and other matters that CMS 

may require. 

CMS will not require cost plans to 

comply with the following reporting 

requirements: Benefit utilization; 

procedure frequency; and serious 

reportable adverse events. However, 

CMS has determined that it is essential 

that all beneficiaries understand rules 

and requirements of the Medicare plans 

which they are being invited to join. 

Prospective enrollees in cost plans 

should be furnished accurate 

information by qualified sales people, 

consistent with CMS’ expectation for 

prospective enrollees in other play 

types. Thus, CMS is requiring reporting 

on certain measures CMS’ believes is 

critical in monitoring cost plans. 

Additionally, CMS believes that section 

1876(i)(1)(D) of the Act, and 42 CFR 

417.126(a)(6) permits CMS to require 

cost plans to report to CMS the data 

identified as follows: Provider network 

adequacy; grievances; organization 

determinations/reconsiderations; 

employer group plan sponsor; agent 

training and testing; agent commission 

structure and plan oversight of agents. 

Data collected via Medicare Part C 

Reporting Requirements will be an 

integral resource for oversight, 

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57632 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 193 / Friday, October 3, 2008 / Notices 

monitoring, compliance and auditing 

activities necessary to ensure quality 

provision of the benefits provided by 

MA plans to enrollees. Refer to the 

‘‘Summary of Revisions’’ document for 

a list of the recent collection changes. 

Form Number: CMS–10261 (OMB# 

0938–New); Frequency: Yearly, 

Quarterly, and Semi-annually; Affected 

Public: Business or other for-profits; 

Number of Respondents: 718; Total 

Annual Responses: 12,709; Total 

Annual Hours: 286,944. 

2. Type of Information Collection 

Request: Revision of a currently 

approved collection; Title of 

Information Collection: Model 

Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notices; 

Use: Section 1860D–1 of the Medicare 

Prescription Drug, Improvement, and 

Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) and 

implementing regulations at 42 CFR 

423.56 require that entities that offer 

prescription drug benefits under any of 

the types of coverage described in 42 

CFR 423.56 (b) provide a disclosure of 

creditable coverage status to all 

Medicare Part D eligible individuals 

covered under the entity’s plan 

informing them whether such coverage 

meets the actuarial requirements 

specified in guidelines provided by 

CMS. 

These disclosure notices must be 

provided to Part D eligible individuals, 

at minimum, at the following times: (1) 

Prior to an individual’s initial 

enrollment period for Part D, as 

described under § 423.38 (a); (2) prior to 

the effective date of enrollment in the 

entity’s coverage, and upon any change 

in creditable status; (3) prior to the 

commencement of the Part D Annual 

Coordinated Election Period (ACEP) 

which begins on November 15 of each 

year, as defined in § 423.38 (b); and (4) 

upon request by the individual. In an 

effort to reduce the burden associated 

with providing these notices, our final 

regulations allow most entities to 

provide notices of creditable and noncreditable status with other information 

materials that these entities distribute to 

beneficiaries. 

This collection has been updated by 

eliminating the separate Model 

Personalized Disclosure Notice. CMS 

has incorporated the personalized 

information into the Model Creditable 

Disclosure Notice and the Model NonCreditable Disclosure Notice for use by 

the public Form Number: CMS–10182 

(OMB# 0938–0990); Frequency: Yearly 

and Semi-annually; Affected Public: 

Federal Government, Business or Other 

For-Profits and Not-for-Profit 

Institutions, and State, Local or Tribal 

Governments; Number of Respondents: 

1,225,173; Total Annual Responses: 

1,225,173; Total Annual Hours: 522,204. 

3. Type of Information Collection 

Request: Revision of a currently 

approved collection; Title of 

Information Collection: Payment Error 

Rate Measurement in Medicaid and the 

State Children Health Insurance 

Program (SCHIP); Use: The Improper 

Payments Information Act (IPIA) of 

2002 requires CMS to produce national 

error rates for Medicaid and State 

Children’s Health Insurance Program 

(SCHIP). To comply with the IPIA, CMS 

will engage a Federal contractor to 

produce the error rates in Medicaid and 

SCHIP. 

The States will be requested to 

submit, at their option, test data which 

include full claims details to the 

contractor prior to the quarterly 

submissions to detect potential 

problems in the dataset and ensure the 

quality of the data. These States will be 

required to submit quarterly claims data 

to the contractor who will pull a 

statistically valid random sample, each 

quarter, by strata, so that medical and 

data processing reviews can be 

performed. State-specific error rates will 

be based on these review results. 

CMS needs to collect the claims data, 

medical policies, and other information 

from States as well as medical records 

from providers in order for the 

contractor to sample and review 

adjudicated claims in those States 

selected for review. Based on the 

reviews, state-specific error rates will be 

calculated which will serve as the basis 

for calculating national Medicaid and 

SCHIP error rates. 

This revision of the currently 

approved collection contains minor 

revisions to the information collection 

requirements. There is a 10-hour 

increase in burden per State per 

program as part of a new process. Based 

on the past experience in PERM 

operation, the adjustment is made to 

ensure the quality of the data will 

comply with the data requirement 

during the measurement. Form Number: 

CMS–10166 (OMB# 0938–0974); 

Frequency: Quarterly, Yearly; Affected 

Public: State, Local or Tribal 

Governments; Number of Respondents: 

34; Total Annual Responses: 4,080; 

Total Annual Hours: 28,560. 

4.Type of Information Collection 

Request: Extension without change of a 

currently approved collection; Title of 

Information Collection: Collection of 

Drug Pricing and Network Pharmacy 

Data from Medicare Prescription Drug 

Plans (PDPs and MA–PDs) and 

Supporting Regulations in 42 CFR 

423.48; Use: Both stand alone 

prescription drug plans (PDPs) and 

Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug 

(MA–PDs) plans are required to submit 

drug pricing and pharmacy network 

data to CMS and these data are made 

publicly available to people with 

Medicare through the Medicare 

Prescription Drug Plan Finder Web tool 

on http://www.medicare.gov. Drug 

prices vary across a plans pharmacy 

network based on the contracts that 

each plan negotiates with each 

pharmacy or pharmacy chain in their 

networks. The pharmacy networks can 

change during the course of the year as 

new pharmacies open, close, change 

ownership, or plans negotiate new 

contracts with pharmacies resulting in 

different dispensing fees for 

prescriptions. Drug prices also change 

frequently due to the daily fluctuation 

of the Average Wholesale Price (AWP), 

thus plans increase or decrease their 

drug prices to reflect these changes. The 

purpose of the data is to enable 

prospective and current Medicare 

beneficiaries to compare, learn, select 

and enroll in a plan that best meets their 

needs. The database structure provides 

the necessary drug pricing and 

pharmacy network information to 

accurately communicate plan 

information in a comparative format. 

Form Number: CMS–10150 (OMB# 

0938–0951); Frequency: Bi-weekly; 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofits; Number of Respondents: 680; 

Total Annual Responses: 17,680; Total 

Annual Hours: 70,720. 

To obtain copies of the supporting 

statement and any related forms for the 

proposed paperwork collections 

referenced above, access CMS Web site 

address at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ 

PaperworkReductionActof1995, 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. 

To be assured consideration, 

comments and recommendations for the 

proposed information collections must 

be received by the OMB desk officer at 

the address below, no later than 5 p.m. 

onNovember 3, 2008. 

OMB, Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Attention: CMS Desk 

Officer, New Executive Office Building, 

Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, 

Fax Number: (202) 395–6974. 

Dated: September 26, 2008. 

Michelle Shortt, 

Director, Regulations Development Group, 

Office of Strategic Operations and Regulatory 

Affairs. 

[FR Doc. E8–23415 Filed 10–2–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

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