Provider education and technical assistance

The Secretary shall coordinate the educational activities provided through medicare contractors (as defined in subsection (g), including under section 1395ddd of this title) in order to maximize the effectiveness of Federal education efforts for providers of services and suppliers. There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary (in appropriate part from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years beginning with fiscal year 2005. The funds made available under paragraph (1) shall be used to increase the conduct by medicare contractors of education and training of providers of services and suppliers regarding billing, coding, and other appropriate items and may also be used to improve the accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of contractor responses. Insofar as a medicare contractor conducts education and training activities, it shall tailor such activities to meet the special needs of small providers of services or suppliers (as defined in paragraph (2)). Such education and training activities for small providers of services and suppliers may include the provision of technical assistance (such as review of billing systems and internal controls to determine program compliance and to suggest more efficient and effective means of achieving such compliance). a provider of services with fewer than 25 full-time-equivalent employees; or a supplier with fewer than 10 full-time-equivalent employees. provides answers in an easily accessible format to frequently asked questions, and includes other published materials of the contractor, A medicare contractor may not use a record of attendance at (or failure to attend) educational activities or other information gathered during an educational program conducted under this section or otherwise by the Secretary to select or track providers of services or suppliers for the purpose of conducting any type of audit or prepayment review. of the screens used for identifying claims that will be subject to medical review; or of information that would compromise pending law enforcement activities or reveal findings of law enforcement-related audits. A medicare administrative contractor with a contract under section 1395kk–1 of this title, including a fiscal intermediary with a contract under section 1395h of this title and a carrier with a contract under section 1395u of this title. An eligible entity with a contract under section 1395ddd of this title. The Secretary [of Health and Human Services] shall establish a demonstration program (in this section referred to as the ‘demonstration program’) under which technical assistance described in paragraph (2) is made available, upon request and on a voluntary basis, to small providers of services or suppliers in order to improve compliance with the applicable requirements of the programs under medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.] (including provisions of title XI of such Act [42 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.] insofar as they relate to such title and are not administered by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services). evaluation and recommendations regarding billing and related systems; and information and assistance regarding policies and procedures under the medicare program, including coding and reimbursement. a provider of services with fewer than 25 full-time-equivalent employees; or a supplier with fewer than 10 full-time-equivalent employees. In conducting the demonstration program, the Secretary shall enter into contracts with qualified organizations (such as peer review [now “quality improvement”] organizations or entities described in section 1889(g)(2) of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 1395zz(g)(2)], as inserted by section 921(f)(1)) with appropriate expertise with billing systems of the full range of providers of services and suppliers to provide the technical assistance. In awarding such contracts, the Secretary shall consider any prior investigations of the entity’s work by the Inspector General of Department of Health and Human Services or the Comptroller General of the United States. The technical assistance provided under the demonstration program shall include a direct and in-person examination of billing systems and internal controls of small providers of services or suppliers to determine program compliance and to suggest more efficient or effective means of achieving such compliance. Not later than 2 years after the date the demonstration program is first implemented, the Comptroller General, in consultation with the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, shall conduct an evaluation of the demonstration program. The evaluation shall include a determination of whether claims error rates are reduced for small providers of services or suppliers who participated in the program and the extent of improper payments made as a result of the demonstration program. The Comptroller General shall submit a report to the Secretary and the Congress on such evaluation and shall include in such report recommendations regarding the continuation or extension of the demonstration program. The provision of technical assistance to a small provider of services or supplier under the demonstration program is conditioned upon the small provider of services or supplier paying an amount estimated (and disclosed in advance of a provider’s or supplier’s participation in the program) to be equal to 25 percent of the cost of the technical assistance. There are authorized to be appropriated, from amounts not otherwise appropriated in the Treasury, such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.” In this subsection, the term “small provider of services or supplier” means— The Secretary, and each medicare contractor insofar as it provides services (including claims processing) for providers of services or suppliers, shall maintain an Internet website which— Nothing in this section or section 1395ddd(g) of this title shall be construed as providing for disclosure by a medicare contractor— For purposes of this section, the term “medicare contractor” includes the following: The technical assistance described in this paragraph is— In this section, the term ‘small providers of services or suppliers’ means— (Source: (Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, title XVIII, § 1889, as added and amended Pub. L. 108–173, title IX, § 921(a)(1), (d)(1), (e)(1), (f)(1), Dec. 8, 2003, 117 Stat. 2388, 2391.))