(Medicare General Information, Eligibility, and Entitlement)

Therefore, if the contractor receives a written reques t for records, the contractor must determine within 2 days of the receipt of the request whether it is clearly authorized to disclose the information.  When able to furnish the requested materials, the contractor will furnish it whenever possible, within 20 working days.  If it is not possible to furnish the materials within 20 working days, the contractor will immediately send the requester a substantive response that states that the records will be released, and explains the reason for the delay.   If the contractor is not clearly authorized to release the information, it notifies the RO immediately and refers the request to the RO for handling.  It sends the request, along with one set of the requested records, immediately to the RO by first class mail, an d clearly identifies the request as a Freedom of Information Act request.   The contractor acknowledges to the requester any request referred to the RO, using the following language:   Dear:   We have referred your (date) Freedom of Information Act request for (specify type of information requested) to: (name of the CMS Regional Office FOIA Coordinator, address of CMS RO, and telephone number of the CMS RO Coordinator).  Any questions you may have relative to your request should be directed to that office.   Sincerely yours,   The contractor sends a copy of the acknowledgment letter with the request to the RO.  The contractor is not required to create records to comply with requests for information.  Contractors may answer requests that require creation of reco rds by stating that the requested records do not exist and that the FOIA does not require agencies to recreate records in order to respond to a request.  Include the appeal rights statement set forth below in the response.  (Note that deletion of non -releasable information from an existing record is not considered creation of a records, no matter how extensive or time consuming the deletion process might be.  Respond to requests that require creation of records using the following language:   Dear:   This is in response to your request dated ____, seeking access to (specify the subject(s) of requested record). Because you seek access to one or more agency records, or information contained in such records, we have considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5USC 552).  We are unable to comply with your request because the agency does not maintain a records that is responsive to your request and because, under FOIA, we are not required to create records or to furnish information in a par ticular form or format is not readily reproducible employing reasonable efforts.  If you have reason to disagree with this decision, you may appeal. Your appeal should be mailed, within 30 days of the date of this letter, to the   Deputy Administrator  Cent ers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,  Room C5- 16-03, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21244- 1850.  Please mark your envelope "Freedom of Information Act Appeal," and enclose a copy of this letter.   10.3 - Processing Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA) Requests (Rev. 1, 09- 11-02)  Form CMS -632-FOI (Exhibit A)  serves as a cover sheet for FOI requests.  The form is designed to expedite the handling of requests and to provide the information necessary for reporting purposes.  For each FOI request, the contractor will complete a Form CMS -632-FOI.  Completion instr uctions for the form are included on the reverse side.  The contractor may furnish estimated costs if actual postage costs are not readily available.   Order Form CMS -632-FOI routinely on an annual basis using the CMS 1961 Forms Order.  Direct any interim r equests for Form CMS -632-FOI to CMS Forms Distribution Officer, Forms Management and Distribution, Office of Internal Customer Support.  Interim requests must be submitted in writing.   10.4 - Reporting Freedom of Information Act Activity  (Rev. 1, 09- 11-02)  The contractor's authority to directly release certain kinds of records includes the responsibility for complete and accurate reporting on the use of this authority.  The following are reporting requirements for Medicare contractors:    Fill out completely  and accurately a Form CMS -632-FOIA for each "direct release."    Maintain in either hardcopy or electronic form a Freedom of Information Daily Log on a daily basis.  This log must include the case control number, date of incoming letter, requester's name, s ubject of the request, the date received in the FOIA unit, the date the response was mailed and the invoiced fee.    Prepare, on a monthly basis, the Summary Sheet for the CMS Monthly FOIA Report ( Exhibit B ).  This Summary Sheet  aggregates data from the individual Form CMS -632.   Submit the Daily Log and Summary Sheet for a given month to your RO FOIA Coordinator by the end of the fifth work day of the following month.    Retain copies of all completed Forms CMS -632-FOI in accordance with record retention requirements for FOIA Administrative Files.   20 - Case Numbering   Since many requesters make multiple FOIA requests, name identification is not adequate to assure proper tracking, or fiscal accounting.  Therefore, CMS employs a Case  Numbering System which includes unique identifiers for each releasing activity.    Use the Case Numbering System for all FOIA cases.    Use the case number in item one of the Form CMS -632-FOI and in the "case number" block at the top left of the Form CMS -633 Invoice of Fees for FOIA Services (Exhibit C) .  Requesters will be asked to put the case number on checks rendered for payment of FOIA services and on any correspondence relating to that case.   1. All cas e numbers in this system consist of ten characters.  These characters maybe numeric or alphabetical and are determined as follows:   a. Case numbers for requests responded to directly by contractors begin with an Arabic number for the Region.   Region  Case  Number  Region  Case  Number  Boston  1 Dallas  6 New York  2 Kansas City  7 Philadelphia  3 Denver  8 Atlanta  4 San Francisco  9 Chicago  5 Seattle  0  NOTE:   Only one space is designated to indicate the responding regional office or contractor within the region.  Therefore, Seattle is represented by "0" rather than by "10".   b. For example, a request responded to directly by any A/B MAC (B) within Region 1 would begin with the digit "1":   1---------   c. In all case numbers, the second character is the last digit of the calendar year in which the request is received by the responding activity.  , continuing the example above, for a 2001 request in Region 1:  11--------   d. Characters three through six indicate the contractor within the region.  A request answered by a contractor would use the last four digits of the contractor number in positions three through six.  Thus, a request responded to directly by Blu e Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island (A/B MAC (B) number 00870) would be:   110870----   e. The last four characters indicate the consecutively assigned case number, beginning with "0001".  Thus, the first request responded to by that A/B MAC (B) in calen dar year 2002 would be:   1108700002  21 - Fees for Information (Contractors)  (Rev. 1, 09- 11-02)  Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, certain fees and charges have been established to recover some of the cost of disclosing information to the public.  Providers, contractors, and State agencies are required to pay appropriate fees for  copies of reports they request pertaining to other providers, contractors, or State agencies.  Such fees are not reimbursable administrative costs under the Medicare program for contractors or State agencies.  A provider may claim such fees as allowable costs only if it demonstrates that the information is necessary in developing and maintaining the operation of patient care facilities and activities.  Members of Congress, when clearly requesting information on behalf of a constituent or other third party, are subject to the same fees and charges that would apply to the person represented.  The contractor will not charge the public for inspection of disclosable documents, or for requests which result in charges under the minimum described in 21.3 , below.  21.1  Fees  (Rev. 1, 09- 11-02)  1. Fees are to be charged differentially, depending on the category of requester/use of the requested material, as follows:    Commercial Use Request -  If the request is for a commercial use, charge the requester for search and review, plus duplication.   Education and Scientific Institutions and News Media -  If the requester is (1) an educational institution or a non- commercial scientific institution operated primarily for scholarly or scientific research, or (2) a representative of the news media, charge only for duplication.  However, do not charge for the first 100 pages of duplication.    Other Requesters -  If the request fits into neither of the above categori es, charge for search and duplication.  However, do not charge for the first 2 hours of search time and the first 100 pages of duplication.  In addition, do not charge the requester if the charge to be billed is less than the established billing threshold.  NOTE:   The CMS Freedom of Information Officer can rule on requests for waiver or reduction of fees, other than those listed above.   2. Regardless of the actual cost of responding to the requester, the law only permits charges to be levied for certain ser vices and only in accord with a published FOIA fee schedule.  The DHHS schedule at 45 CFR Part 5 is binding on CMS, and results in the following charges:   a. Photocopying -  Charge 10 cents per page for copying records.  The contractor may charge lower fees fo r particular documents where:    The document has already been printed in large numbers,   The contractor determines that using existing stock to answer this request, and any other anticipated FOI requests will not interfere with program requirements, and    The contractor determines that the lower fee is adequate to recover the prorated share of the original printing costs.   b. Search and Review -  For manual searching and for review (when used, as applicable, in connection with processing records for a commercial use or other request), base the cost on the hourly rate of employees involved.  Equate employee hourly wage scales to these three categories:   Level  Hourly Wage Range  GS Grade Range  CMS Bills  Level 1  Up to $20.74  Federal Grades 1 through 8  $16.00 Level 2  $20.75 - $46.69  Federal Grades 9 through 14  $33.00  Level 3  $46.70 or more/hr  Federal Grades 15 and up  $59.00   NOTE:   The CMS Freedom of Information Officer updates the above scale based upon changes to the HHS fee schedule, and provides such updates to all CMS/contractor FOIA Coordinators.  The contractor will not charge the requester any fee at all if the costs of rou tine collection and processing of the fee are likely to equal or exceed the amount of the fee.  As of November 2001, CMS's charge threshold is $15.00.  If the contractor determines that the requester is breaking down a single request into a series of requests in order to avoid (or reduce) the fees charged, it may aggregate all these requests for purposes of calculating the fees charged.   Certifying that records are true copies - Charge $10 per certification.   Performing any other special service requested, that the contractor agrees to provide -  actual costs of operating any machinery, plus actual cost of any materials used, plus charges for the time of its employees, at the rates given in paragraph 2b of this section.  Special Forwarding Arrangements -  Actu al cost.  This includes special delivery, airmail, registered mail, etc.   21.2 - Billing of Fees and Charges  (Rev. 1, 09- 11-02)  The contractor is responsible for the billing of costs resulting from providing disclosable information.  To invoice, use Form CMS -633 -  Invoice of Fees for FOIA Services (Exhibit C).  The requester sends payment derived from the release of information to the CMS Division of Accounting.   21.3 - Advance Payment/Requests Fulfilled Without Remittance  (Rev. 1, 09- 11-02)  Where estimat ed costs exceed $250.00, or if the requester has failed to pay previous bills in a timely fashion, collect fees and charges before the requested material is copied and furnished.  Use the Division of Accounting, CMS's FOIA Bad Debtor Listing to determine d elinquency.  Notify the requester of the total estimated charges, using language similar to the following: