Notice2022-11251
National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 25, 2022
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services Department
Abstract
Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the following advisory committee meeting. This meeting is open to the public. The public is welcome to obtain the link to attend this meeting by following the instructions posted on the Committee website: https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/ meetings/standards-subcommittee-meeting-3/.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 101 (Wednesday, May 25, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 101 (Wednesday, May 25, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31894-31895]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-11251]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics
AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS.
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the following advisory
committee meeting. This meeting is open to the public. The public is
welcome to obtain the link to attend this meeting by following the
instructions posted on the Committee website: <a href="https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/meetings/standards-subcommittee-meeting-3/">https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/meetings/standards-subcommittee-meeting-3/</a>.
NAME: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS),
Meeting of the Subcommittee on Standards.
DATES: The meeting will be held Thursday, June 9, 2022: 10:00 a.m.-5:30
p.m. EDT.
ADDRESSES: Virtual open meeting.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Substantive program information may be
obtained from Rebecca Hines, MHS, Executive Secretary, NCVHS, National
Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 3311 Toledo Road, Hyattsville, Maryland 20782, or via
electronic mail to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bbcddcd38ffbd8dfd895dcd4cd"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="780e1f104c381b1c1b561f170e">[email protected]</span></a>; or by telephone (301) 458-4715.
Summaries of meetings and a roster of Committee members are available
on the home page of the NCVHS website <a href="https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/">https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/</a>, where
further information including an agenda and instructions to access the
broadcast of the meeting will be posted.
Should you require reasonable accommodation, please telephone the
CDC Office of Equal Employment Opportunity at (770) 488-3210 as soon as
possible.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Purpose: As outlined in its Charter, the National Committee on
Vital and Health Statistics assists and advises the Secretary of HHS on
health data, data standards, statistics, privacy, national health
information policy, and the Department's strategy to best address those
issues. This includes the adoption and implementation of transaction
standards, unique identifiers, and code sets adopted under the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA),\1\ and
operating rules adopted under the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act (ACA).\2\
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\1\ Public Law 104-191, 110 Stat. 1936 (Aug. 21, 1996),
available at: <a href="https://www.congress.gov/104/plaws/publ191/PLAW-104publ191.pdf">https://www.congress.gov/104/plaws/publ191/PLAW-104publ191.pdf</a>.
\2\ Public Law 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (Mar. 23, 2010), available
at <a href="https://www.congress.gov/111/plaws/publ148/PLAW-111publ148.pdf">https://www.congress.gov/111/plaws/publ148/PLAW-111publ148.pdf</a>.
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Based on input and information gathered during its current project,
``Standardization of Information for Burden Reduction and Post-Pandemic
America'' (Convergence 2.0), NCVHS is working to finalize strategic
concepts for health information technology standards to support more
expansive health data flows than are currently encompassed under HIPAA
and other federal legislation.\3\ Data flows common today did not exist
at the time the HIPAA frameworks were adopted in regulation, e.g.,
HIPAA is statutorily limited to Covered Entities, but patient data now
flows routinely to other parties who are not Covered Entities. The
NCVHS Subcommittee on Standards' Convergence 2.0 work also assessed the
strengths and weaknesses of the current standards development and
federal rulemaking processes and would set the
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stage for future directions toward the strategic vision.
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\3\ NCVHS Standards Subcommittee Project Scope: Standardization
of Information for Burden Reduction and Post-Pandemic America
(``Convergence 2.0''), available at <a href="https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NCVHS-SS-project-scoping-convergence-2021-06-21-508.pdf">https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NCVHS-SS-project-scoping-convergence-2021-06-21-508.pdf</a>. NCVHS Predictability Roadmap work, which addressed
the need for the HIPAA standards to be adopted on a regular cadence,
has evolved into a convergence project with a broader scope. The
Subcommittee has been considering whether opportunities exist for
updates to the HIPAA regulatory framework as well as standards
adoption. In addition to these foundational topics, the Committee
has incorporated the harmonization of public health and clinical
standards in its scope, particularly with their relevance to
interoperable data exchange. Underlying the data flows are privacy
and security considerations.
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The Subcommittee on Standards drafted a suite of potential actions
for consideration for near-term improvement of the current standards
development and rulemaking processes informed by the August 21, 2021,
Listening Session.\4\ The Committee is seeking reaction to this draft
set of actions from potential end-users, standards development
organizations (SDOs), trade and professional organizations, and other
members of the public. The purpose of this meeting is to provide a
public forum to obtain this feedback. Based on that input, the
Subcommittee anticipates developing recommendations for consideration
by the full Committee. The draft considerations and supporting context
may be viewed on the NCVHS website at <a href="https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/Draft-Convergence-2-dot-0">https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/Draft-Convergence-2-dot-0</a>.
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\4\ NCVHS Listening Session on Healthcare Standards Development,
Adoption and Implementation, Aug. 25, 2021. Agenda, audio recording,
transcript, and other meeting materials are available at: <a href="https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/meetings/standards-subcommittee-listening-session/">https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/meetings/standards-subcommittee-listening-session/</a>.
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Summary
Subtitle F (Administrative Simplification) of HIPAA promoted the
transition of routine business processes of health care from mailing
and faxing of paper documents to electronic exchange of standardized
data. Health data flows, standards, technology, and communications
infrastructure have all evolved radically since HIPAA introduced the
concept of national standards to health care administration. Consistent
with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology's (ONC) Federal Health Information Technology Strategic
Plan,\5\ the Subcommittee is investigating what would be necessary to
prepare the U.S. health care system for its next leap forward. The
Subcommittee is proposing for industry feedback actions to further a
comprehensive, integrated health information ecosystem that
incorporates claims, administrative records, digital medical records,
public health data, and data about a patient's social risk. These
proposed actions include specific updating of standardization processes
under HIPAA to accommodate new business models, technologies, and
information needs, while protecting investments in legacy standards
that have demonstrably succeeded in producing HIPAA's intended
efficiencies and cost reductions.
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\5\ ONC, Ofc. of the Sec'y, U.S. Dept. of Health & Human
Services, 2020-2025 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (Oct. 2020),
available at <a href="https://www.healthit.gov/topic/2020-2025-federal-health-it-strategic-plan">https://www.healthit.gov/topic/2020-2025-federal-health-it-strategic-plan</a>.
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As noted above, to inform this rethinking and updating, NCVHS'
Convergence 2.0 project solicited input from industry on the HIPAA
regulatory framework and the standards update processes in a public
Listening Session on August 25, 2021. During the Listening Session,
representatives of industry testified that current processes do not fit
with the cadence needed to meet their business needs. They further
advocated that options and alternatives for a modernized framework
should be considered to support current and future needs, including
additional harmonization of clinical, public health (including vital
records), and other standards with HIPAA standards. The implication is
that options or alternatives would need to consider significant
portions of work done by ONC and its Health Information Technology
Advisory Committee on electronic health records, data exchange
networks, and an interoperability framework.
Based on its analysis of the input of expert panels and members of
the public who responded to a Request for Public Comment,\6\ the
Committee continues to investigate whether the HIPAA framework is in
need of modernization.
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\6\ See U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Svcs., NCVHS, Notice of
Meeting and Request for Public Comment, 86 FR 33318 (June 24, 2021),
available at <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-06-24/pdf/2021-13334.pdf">https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-06-24/pdf/2021-13334.pdf</a>; ``Comments Received in Response to Request for
Comment: Federal Register Notice: 86 FR 33318,'' available at
<a href="https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Public-Comments-Standards-Subcommittee-Listening-Session-August-25-2021.pdf">https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Public-Comments-Standards-Subcommittee-Listening-Session-August-25-2021.pdf</a>.
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The Committee will invite statements from representatives of
stakeholder organizations, and the agenda also will include time for
public comment. Meeting times and topics are subject to change. Please
refer to the agenda posted at the NCVHS website for this meeting for
updates at: <a href="https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/meetings/standards-subcommittee-meeting-3/">https://ncvhs.hhs.gov/meetings/standards-subcommittee-meeting-3/</a>.
Sharon Arnold,
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary, Science and Data Policy, Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 2022-11251 Filed 5-24-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-05-P
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