Emergency Clearance: Public Information Collection Requirements Submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Official abstract: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is requesting that an information collection request revision for the Review Choice Demonstration or Home Health Services (CMS-10599/0938- 1311) processed under the emergency clearance process associated with the implementing regulations of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). Public harm is reasonably likely to occur if normal, non- emergency clearance procedures are followed. The approval of this data collection process is essential to ensure that the Review Choice Demonstration (RCD) for Home Health (HH) Services is expanded to California within the specified timeframe. A delay in the expansion means an extended time the public will be harmed through the continuation of significant fraud found in the traditional Medicare home health benefit in California through the waste of taxpayer money, a loss of funds from the Medicare Trust Funds that could have been used for truly needed care, paying for care that is never delivered, and beneficiaries potentially receiving non-medically necessary care. Under the PRA, federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed ICR. Interested persons are invited to send comments regarding our burden estimates or any other aspect of this ICR including the necessity and utility of the proposed ICR for the proper performance of the agency's functions, the accuracy of the estimated burden, ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected and the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology to minimize the information collection burden.