[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 3 (Wednesday, January 5, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 494-495]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-121]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Health Care Financing Administration
[HCFA-1094-N]
Medicare Graduate Medical Education Consortia Demonstration
AGENCY: Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the Medicare Graduate Medical Education
(GME) Consortia demonstration, which will test how teaching hospitals
and affiliated organizations respond to the incentive of shared direct
GME payments. HCFA is interested in newly formed partnerships as well
as already existing GME consortia. HCFA plans to conduct the
demonstration with a limited number of consortia, to be chosen through
a competitive
[[Page 495]]
application process. An application package can be obtained from HCFA,
which describes the demonstration and the criteria to be used in
reviewing applications. Applications are due to HCFA 90 days after the
publication of this notice.
DATES: Closing date for submission of applications will be April 4,
2000, 5 p.m. E.S.T.
APPLICATIONS: To receive an application package, and for further
information, contact Sid Mazumdar, (410) 786-6673.
ADDRESSES: Mail correspondence to the following: Health Care Financing
Administration, Room C4-14-15, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore,
Maryland 21244-1850, Attention: Sid Mazumdar.
I. Background
Section 4628 of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 requires a
demonstration which will permit direct Graduate Medical Education
payments ordinarily paid to a teaching hospital to be paid to a
consortium. According to the legislation, a qualifying consortium is to
consist of a teaching hospital (with one or more residency programs)
and at least one of the following: a school of allopathic or
osteopathic medicine, another teaching hospital (which can be a
children's hospital), a Federally Qualified Health Center, a medical
group practice, a managed care entity, or an entity furnishing
outpatient services. The legislation gives authority to the Secretary
of Health and Human Services to expand the definition of an
organization qualified to participate in a consortium.
Organizations that are already established will be able to begin
the demonstration in July 2000. Other consortia will begin with the
demonstration payment in July 2001. No consortium projects will begin
after the summer of 2001. Applying consortia must provide letters of
commitment demonstrating that all participating organizations agree to
the proposed system of governance and methodology for distributing
funds. HCFA will evaluate applications on how the proposed project will
help achieve stated goals; the system of administration and decision
making; plans for quality improvement and evaluation; and staff and
capability for education and training. Applicants will be evaluated
according to a numerical scoring system corresponding to the specific
criteria that are described in the application.
II. Payment Methodology
HCFA will pay to the consortium the fraction (or entirety) of the
direct Graduate Medical Education (GME) payment of the teaching
hospital(s) that the consortium agrees upon, subject to HCFA's
approval. This amount will be subtracted from HCFA's payment to the
teaching hospitals. The demonstration will be budget neutral, that is,
it will allow no more money to be paid to the consortium than what the
direct GME payment would otherwise have been to its participating
entities. The application package contains a more detailed explanation
of the payment methodology.
Authority: Section 4628 of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997,
Public Law 105-33.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program No. 93.779, Health
Financing, Demonstrations, and Experiments)
Dated: December 15, 1999.
Nancy-Ann Min DeParle,
Administrator, Health Care Financing Administration.
[FR Doc. 00-121 Filed 1-4-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P
