Reference no: EM133254439

Assignment for Administrative Rulemaking:

For this assignment, go to Regulations.gov and look for the "Request for Information: Advanced Explanation of Benefits and Good Faith Estimate for Covered Individuals." Use the one with the ID: HHS-OS-2022-0008-0655.

While the resources for this week focused on commenting on a proposed rule, the same tactics and approaches can be used to comment on a request for information (RFI).

Respond to the following questions based on the Request for Information: Advanced Explanation of Benefits and Good Faith Estimate for Covered Individuals:

1) Which department issued this RFI?

2) When must comments be sent in order to be considered?

3)Why are comments being sought? Respond in your own terms, without quoting from the RFI.

4) Pretend you are a new health care administrator at "Happy Hollow Hospital," a level one trauma centre. Your hospital's administration has asked you to form a small working group of no more than six people to draft remarks on Happy Hollow Hospital's behalf.

Leadership has specifically requested that you prepare comments in response to two categories of topics raised in the RFI:

1) Data transfer from providers and facilities to plans, issuers, and carriers

"What privacy concerns does the transfer of AEOB and GFE data raise, given that these transfers would list the individual's scheduled (or requested) item or service, including the expected billing and diagnostic codes for that item or service?" Is the exchange of AEOB and GFE data creating new or unique privacy problems for persons enrolled in a plan or coverage? Are there any specific considerations that Departments should make for persons who are enrolled in a plan or coverage with other members of their household? "How should the Departments and OPM address these concerns?"

2) Economic Consequences

"Specifically, the Departments and OPM are interested in estimates of the time and cost constraints on providers and facilities, as well as separately on plans, issuers, and carriers, for developing and maintaining a standards-based API for the real-time interchange of AEOB and GFE data."

You do not need to write the comments for this assignment. Rather, explain in a few paragraphs what types of positions (for example, Human Relations Director or Quality Improvement Director) you want to include on your working committee and what type of information you expect to obtain from each of these positions to help you prepare comments on behalf of Happy Hollow Hospital.

5) Leadership also asks if the Happy Hollow Hospital can be paid for the administrative expenditures of forming this working group and submitting remarks. How do you react to leadership?

6) Finally, if you were a new hospital administrator, how would you go about staying up to date and informed about proposed federal rules and demands for information that could affect your facility?