36722 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 141 / Friday, July 24, 2009 / Notices 

assessment of the organization’s 

survey process. 

—The adequacy of ACHC’s staff and 

other resources, and its financial 

viability. 

—ACHC’s capacity to adequately fund 

required surveys. 

—ACHC’s policies with respect to 

whether surveys are announced or 

unannounced, to assure that surveys 

are unannounced. 

—ACHC’s agreement to provide us with 

a copy of the most current 

accreditation survey together with any 

other information related to the 

survey as we may require (including 

corrective action plans). 

IV. Response to Public Comments and 

Notice Upon Completion of Evaluation 

Because of the large number of public 

comments we normally receive on 

Federal Register documents, we are not 

able to acknowledge or respond to them 

individually. We will consider all 

comments we receive by the date and 

time specified in the DATES section of 

this preamble, and, when we proceed 

with a subsequent document, we will 

respond to the comments in the 

preamble to that document. 

Upon completion of our evaluation, 

including evaluation of comments 

received as a result of this notice, we 

will publish a final notice in the Federal 

Register announcing the result of our 

evaluation. 

V. Collection of Information 

Requirements 

This document does not impose 

information collection and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Consequently, it need not be reviewed 

by the Office of Management and 

Budget under the authority of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. 35). 

VI. Regulatory Impact Statement 

In accordance with the provisions of 

Executive Order 12866, the Office of 

Management and Budget did not review 

this proposed notice. 

In accordance with Executive Order 

13132, we have determined that this 

proposed notice would not have a 

significant effect on the rights of States, 

local or Tribal governments. 

Authority: Section 1865 of the Social 

Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395bb). 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program No. 93.778, Medical Assistance 

Program; No. 93.773 Medicare—Hospital 

Insurance Program; and No. 93.774, 

Medicare—Supplementary Medical 

Insurance Program) 

Dated: July 9, 2009. 

Charlene Frizzera, 

Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare 

& Medicaid Services. 

[FR Doc. E9–17611 Filed 7–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

[CMS–5050–N] 

Medicare and Medicaid Programs; 

Resolicitation of Proposals for the 

Private, For-Profit Demonstration 

Project for the Program of All-Inclusive 

Care for the Elderly (PACE) and 

Announcement of Closing Date 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This notice resolicits 

proposals for the private, for-profit 

demonstration project for the Program of 

All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly 

(PACE) and announces a closing date for 

the solicitation. We previously solicited 

proposals from private, for-profit 

organizations for a fully capitated joint 

Medicare and Medicaid demonstration. 

DATES: Closing Date: Proposals must be 

submitted by July 26, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: Proposals should be mailed 

to the following by the date specified in 

the DATES section of this notice: 

Attention: Michael Henesch, Office of 

Research, Development, and 

Information, Centers for Medicare and 

Medicaid Services, Mailstop: C4–17–27, 

7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 

21244–1850. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Henesch, 410–786–6685. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Sections 1894(h)(1) and 1934(h)(1) of 

the Social Security Act (the Act) state 

that the Secretary shall grant waivers to 

enable up to ten private, for-profit 

Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the 

Elderly (PACE) demonstration projects 

to provide medical assistance to PACE 

program eligible individuals who are 55 

years of age or older, require the level 

of care required for coverage of nursing 

facility services, and reside in the PACE 

program service area. The for-profit 

demonstration provision requires that, 

except for the numerical limitation of 

ten demonstration waivers, the 

operation of a PACE program by a 

provider shall be the same as those for 

PACE providers that are not-for-profit, 

private organizations. The purpose of 

this notice is to resolicit proposals for 

the private, for-profit demonstration 

project for the PACE and announces a 

closing date for the solicitation. A 

previous notice of solicitation to forprofit organizations (66 FR 42229) was 

published in the August 10, 2001 

Federal Register. The purpose of the 

August 2001 notice was to determine 

whether the risk-based long-term care 

model employed by the nonprofit PACE 

can be replicated successfully by forprofit organizations. 

Section 4804(b) of the Balanced 

Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) (Pub. L. 105– 

33) requires issuance of a report that 

includes findings as to whether— 

• The number of covered lives 

enrolled in for-profit PACE 

demonstration projects are statistically 

sufficient to make the findings 

described below; 

• The population enrolled in forprofit PACE demonstration projects is 

less frail than the population enrolled 

with other PACE providers; 

• Access to or quality of care for 

individuals enrolled with for-profit 

PACE programs is lower than for those 

enrolled in other PACE programs; and 

• For-profit demonstration projects 

resulted in increased expenditures 

under Medicare or Medicaid programs 

above those incurred by other PACE 

providers. 

The August 2001 Federal Register (66 

FR 42229), solicited proposals from forprofit entities to demonstrate that they 

can successfully provide comprehensive 

coordinated care for the frail elderly 

under a prepaid fully-capitated payment 

system. That notice specified that we 

would—(1) consider proposals only 

from for-profit organizations; and (2) 

operate the demonstration for 3 years. 

To date, there are only two for-profit 

PACE demonstration projects in place, 

both of which began in 2007. 

II. Provisions of the Notice 

This notice resolicits proposals for the 

private, for-profit demonstration project 

for the PACE and announces a closing 

date for this solicitation. We publish 

this notice to— 

• Encourage for-profit entities to 

submit proposals to conduct projects to 

demonstrate the for-profit PACE concept 

over a 3 year period, and to further 

encourage that they do so within the 

next year by establishing a closing date 

to the solicitation; and 

• Increase the number of covered 

enrollees across all for-profit 

demonstration sites. 

Therefore, this notice provides an 

additional opportunity for interested 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 141 / Friday, July 24, 2009 / Notices 36723 

for-profit organizations to submit 

proposals to the address listed in the 

ADDRESSES section of this notice by the 

date specified in the DATES section of 

this notice. If after this limited 1-year 

opportunity the report with the required 

findings cannot be completed, for-profit 

PACE demonstrations should plan to 

terminate their projects. We note that, as 

a resolicitation, all proposals received 

will be evaluated using the criteria 

specified in the original August 10, 2001 

Federal Register notice (66 FR 42231) 

and these criteria are also available on 

the CMS Web site at: http:// 

www.cms.hhs.gov/ 

DemoProjectsEvalRpts/MD/ 

itemdetail.asp?itemID=CMS1202809. 

III. Collection of Information 

Requirements 

As we do not anticipate receiving 10 

or more applications for this 

demonstration, this document does not 

impose information collection and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Consequently, it need not be reviewed 

by the Office of Management and 

Budget under the authority of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

Authority: Section 1894(h) and 1934(h) of 

the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395eee 

and 1396u–4) (Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance Program No. 93.778, Medical 

Assistance Program; No. 93.773 Medicare— 

Hospital Insurance Program; and No. 93.774, 

Medicare—Supplementary Medical 

Insurance Program) 

Dated: May 6, 2009. 

Charlene Frizzera, 

Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare 

& Medicaid Services. 

[FR Doc. E9–17607 Filed 7–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

[CMS–1415–N] 

Medicare Program; Announcement of 

Five New Members to the Advisory 

Panel on Ambulatory Payment 

Classification Groups 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS), Department 

of Health and Human Services (DHHS). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces five 

new members selected to serve on the 

Advisory Panel on Ambulatory Payment 

Classification (APC) Groups (the Panel). 

The purpose of the Panel is to review 

the APC groups and their associated 

weights and to advise the Secretary of 

DHHS (the Secretary) and the 

Administrator of CMS (the 

Administrator) concerning the clinical 

integrity of the APC groups and their 

associated weights. We will consider the 

Panel’s advice as we prepare the annual 

updates of the hospital outpatient 

prospective payment system (OPPS). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

inquiries about the Panel, please contact 

the Designated Federal Official (DFO): 

Shirl Ackerman-Ross, DFO, CMS, CMM, 

HAPG, DOC, 7500 Security Boulevard, 

Mail Stop C4–05–17, Baltimore, MD 

21244–1850, Phone (410) 786–4474. 

APC Panel E-Mail Address: The Email address for the Panel is as follows: 

CMS APCPanel@cms.hhs.gov (Note: 

There is NO underscore in this e-mail 

address; there is a SPACE between CMS 

and APCPanel.) 

News Media Contact: News media 

representatives must contact our Public 

Affairs Office at (202) 690–6145. 

CMS Advisory Committees Hotlines: 

The CMS Federal Advisory Committee 

Hotline is 1–877–449–5659 (toll free) 

and (410) 786–9379 (local) for 

additional Panel information. 

Web Sites: For additional information 

regarding the APC Panel membership, 

meetings, agendas, and updates to the 

Panel’s activities, please search our Web 

site at the following Uniform Resource 

Locator (URL): http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ 

FACA/05_AdvisoryPanelonAmbulatory

PaymentClassificationGroups.asp#

TopOfPage. (Note: There is an 

UNDERSCORE after FACA/05 (like 

this_); there is no space.) 

The public may also access the 

following URL for the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act Web site to obtain APC 

Panel information: https:// 

www.fido.gov/facadatabase/public.asp. 

A copy of the Panel’s Charter and other 

pertinent information are on both Web 

sites mentioned above. You may also email the Panel DFO at the above e-mail 

address for a copy of the Charter. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Secretary is required by section 

1833(t)(9)(A) of the Social Security Act 

(the Act) to consult with an expert 

outside advisory Panel regarding the 

clinical integrity of the APC groups and 

relative payment weights that are 

components of the Medicare hospital 

OPPS. 

The APC Panel meets up to three 

times annually. The Charter requires 

that the Panel must be fairly balanced in 

its membership in terms of the points of 

view represented and the functions to 

be performed. The Panel consists of up 

to 15 members, who are representatives 

of providers, and a Chair. Each Panel 

member must be employed full-time by 

a hospital, hospital system, or other 

Medicare provider subject to payment 

under the OPPS. The Secretary or 

Administrator selects the Panel 

membership based upon either selfnominations or nominations submitted 

by Medicare providers and other 

interested organizations. All members 

must have technical expertise to enable 

them to participate fully in the work of 

the Panel. This expertise encompasses 

hospital payment systems; hospital 

medical-care delivery systems; provider 

billing systems; APC groups, Current 

Procedural Terminology codes, and 

alpha-numeric Healthcare Common 

Procedure Coding System codes; and 

the use of, and payment for, drugs and 

medical devices in the outpatient 

setting, as well as other forms of 

relevant expertise. 

The Charter requires that all members 

have a minimum of 5 years experience 

in their area(s) of expertise, but it is not 

necessary that any member be an expert 

in all of the areas listed above. For 

purposes of this Panel, consultants and 

independent contractors are not 

considered as being full-time employees 

of hospitals, hospital systems, or other 

Medicare providers that are paid under 

the Medicare hospital OPPS. A Panel 

member may serve up to a 4-year term. 

A member may serve after the 

expiration of his or her term until a 

successor has been sworn in. All terms 

are contingent upon the renewal of the 

Panel’s Charter by appropriate action 

before its termination. The Secretary rechartered the APC Panel effective 

November 21, 2008. 

II. Announcement of New Members 

The Panel may consist of a Chair and 

up to 15 Panel members who serve 

without compensation, according to an 

advance written agreement. Travel, 

meals, lodging, and related expenses for 

the meeting are reimbursed in 

accordance with standard Government 

travel regulations. We have a special 

interest in ensuring that women, 

minorities, representatives from various 

geographical locations, and the 

physically challenged are adequately 

represented on the Panel. 

The Secretary, or her designee, 

appoints new members to the Panel 

from among those candidates 

determined to have the required 

expertise. New appointments are made 

in a manner that ensures a balanced 

membership. 

The Panel presently consists of the 

following 15 members and a Chair. (The 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES