Medicare Program; Contract Year 2021 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, and Medicare Cost Plan Program; Correction
This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule published in the Federal Register on June 2, 2020 entitled "Medicare Program; Contract Year 2021 Policy a...
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS.
ACTION:
Final rule; correction.
SUMMARY:
This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule published in the
Federal Register
on June 2, 2020 entitled “Medicare Program; Contract Year 2021 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, and Medicare Cost Plan Program.”
DATES:
Effective date:
This correcting document is effective on October 13, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Cali Diehl, (410) 786-4053 or Christopher McClintick, (410) 786-4682—General Questions.
Kimberlee Levin, (410) 786-2549—Part C Issues.
Stacy Davis, (410) 786-7813—Part C and D Payment Issues.
Melissa Seeley, (212) 616-2329—D-SNP Issues.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
In FR Doc. 2020-11342 of June 2, 2020 (85 FR 33796), there were a number of technical errors that are identified and corrected in this correcting document. The provisions in this correction document are effective as if they had been included in the document published June 2, 2020. Accordingly, the corrections are effective August 3, 2020.
II. Summary of Errors
On page 33820, in our discussion of dual eligible special needs plans, we inadvertently included a disclaimer that was not applicable to the published final rule.
On pages 33876 and 33877, in our discussion of the information collection requirements regarding Special Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill (SSBCI), we inadvertently identified the wrong Paperwork Reduction Act package in our narrative and omitted several Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control numbers from Table 3.
On page 33881, in our discussion of the information collection requirements regarding medical savings account (MSA) medical loss ratio (MLR), we made inadvertent errors the amount of time it would take beneficiaries to complete an enrollment form.
On page 33883, in the table that provides a summary of the annual information collection burden (Table 6), we made the following typographical errors:
In the table title, we included the term “requirements” instead of “burden”.
( printed page 64402)
In the SSBCI entries there were errors in the identification numbers in the “OMB Control No.” column.
In the MSA MLR entries, there were errors in the values and numbers for the “Regulatory citation”, “OMB Control No.”, “Total number of respondents”, and the “Total number of responses”.
On pages 33889 and 33890, in the table that displays the per-year calculations regarding kidney acquisition costs (Table 11), we made inadvertent errors in the table title (we omitted “s” in the term “costs”). Additionally, on page 33890, the column headings are listed for the years 2013 to 2020 instead of 2021 to 2030.
III. Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking
Under 5 U.S.C. 553(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the agency is required to publish a notice of the proposed rule in the
Federal Register
before the provisions of a rule take effect. Similarly, section 1871(b)(1) of the Act requires the Secretary to provide for notice of the proposed rule in the
Federal Register
and provide a period of not less than 60 days for public comment. In addition, section 553(d) of the APA, and section 1871(e)(1)(B)(i) of the Act mandate a 30-day delay in effective date after issuance or publication of a rule. Sections 553(b)(B) and 553(d)(3) of the APA provide for exceptions from the notice and comment and delay in effective date APA requirements; in cases in which these exceptions apply, sections 1871(b)(2)(C) and 1871(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act provide exceptions from the notice and 60-day comment period and delay in effective date requirements of the Act as well. Section 553(b)(B) of the APA and section 1871(b)(2)(C) of the Act authorize an agency to dispense with normal rulemaking requirements for good cause if the agency makes a finding that the notice and comment process are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. In addition, both section 553(d)(3) of the APA and section 1871(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act allow the agency to avoid the 30-day delay in effective date where such delay is contrary to the public interest and an agency includes a statement of support.
Section 553(d) of the APA ordinarily requires a 30-day delay in effective date of final rules after the date of their publication in the
Federal Register
. This 30-day delay in effective date can be waived, however, if an agency finds for good cause that the delay is impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest, and the agency incorporates a statement of the findings and its reasons in the rule issued.
We believe that this correcting document does not constitute a rule that would be subject to the notice and comment or delayed effective date requirements of the APA or section 1871 of the Act. This correcting document corrects technical errors in the preamble and regulation text of the final rule but does not make substantive changes to the policies that were adopted in the final rule. As a result, this correcting document is intended to ensure that the information in the final rule accurately reflects the policies adopted in that final rule.
In addition, even if this were a rule to which the notice and comment procedures and delayed effective date requirements applied, we find that there is good cause to waive such requirements. Undertaking further notice and comment procedures to incorporate the corrections in this document into the final rule or delaying the effective date would be contrary to the public interest because it is in the public's interest to ensure that final rule accurately reflects our policies. Furthermore, such procedures would be unnecessary, as we are not altering payment eligibility or benefit methodologies or policies, but rather, simply implementing correctly the policies that we previously proposed, received comment on, and subsequently finalized. This correcting document is intended solely to ensure that the final rule accurately reflects these policies. Therefore, we believe we have good cause to waive the notice and comment and effective date requirements.
1. On page 33820, lower third of the page, the text box that includes the phrase “DISCLAIMER: Based on the tight time constraints and the need to expedite” is corrected by removing the text box.
2. On page 33876, lower three-fourths of the page (after the table), second column, sixth full paragraph, lines 6 and 7, the reference to “control number 0938-0763 (CMS-R-262)” is corrected to read “control number 0938-0753 (CMS-R-267)”.
3. On page 33877, lower third of the page, the table titled “TABLE 3—SUMMARY OF BURDEN FOR SSBCI AT § 422.102” is corrected by correcting the third column (OMB Control No.) for the listed entries (SSBCI provisions) to read as follows:
Provision
Regulatory citation
OMB Control No.
Subject
Number of
respondents
Total
number of
responses
Time per
response
(hr)
Total time
(hr)
Labor cost
($/hr)
Annual cost
($)
SSBCI
§ 422.102(f)(3)(i)
0938-0753
SSBCI: Criteria (Initial Software)
234
1
12
2808
103.33
96,717
SSBCI
§ 422.102(f)(3)(i)
0938-0753
SSBCI: Criteria (Physician review)
234
1
36
8424
193.7
1,631,729
SSBCI
§ 422.102(f)(3)(i)
0938-0753
SSBCI: Criteria (Software updates)
234
1
5
1170
85.26
99,754
SSBCI
§ 422.102(f)(3)(ii)
0938-0753
Written criteria
234
1
2
468
56.34
26,367
SSBCI
§ 422.102(f)(3)(iii)
0938-0753
Enrollee eligibility
234
1
9
2106
86.95
179,465
4. On page 33881, first column, fourth full paragraph, line 8, the phrase “0.5 hours at $25.72/hr” is corrected to read “0.3333 hours at $25.72/hr”
5. On page 33883, in the table titled “TABLE 6—ANNUAL INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUIREMENTS” the table is corrected by—
a. Correcting the table title “TABLE 6—ANNUAL INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUIREMENTS” to read “TABLE 6—ANNUAL INFORMATION COLLECTION BURDEN”.
b. Correcting the second (Regulatory citation), third (OMB Control No.), sixth (Total number of respondents), and seventh columns (Total number of responses) for the listed entry (third row the first MSA MLR provision) to read as follows:
( printed page 64403)
Provision
Regulatory citation
OMB Control No.
Respondent type
Response summary
Total number
of respondents
Total
number of
responses
Time per
response
(hr)
Total annual
time
(hr)
Labor cost
($/hr)
Total
annual cost
($)
MSA MLR
§ 422.2440
0938-NEW
Enrollees
MSA MLR: Filling out enrollment forms.
2,765
2,765
0.3333
922
25.72
23,705
c. Correcting the identification numbers in third column (OMB Control No.) for the listed entries (SSBCI provisions) to read as follows:
Provision
Regulatory citation
OMB Control No.
Respondent type
Response summary
Total number
of respondents
Total
number of
responses
Time per
response
(hr)
Total annual
time
(hr)
Labor cost
($/hr)
Total
annual cost
($)
SSCBI
§ 422.102(f)(3)(i)
0938-0753
MA Plans
SSBCI: Criteria (initial software update)
234
1
12
2808
103.33
96,717
SSCBI
§ 422.102(f)(3)(i)
0938-0753
MA Plans
SSBCI: Criteria (Annual physician review)
234
1
36
8424
193.7
1,631,729
SSCBI
§ 422.102(f)(3)(i)
0938-0753
MA Plans
SSBCI: Criteria (Software updates)
234
1
5
1170
85.26
99,754
SSCBI
§ 422.102(f)(3)(ii)
0938-0753
MA Plans
SSBCI: Documentation
234
1
2
468
56.34
26,367
SSCBI
§ 422.102(f)(3)(iii)
0938-0753
MA Plans
SSBCI: Enrollee records
234
1
9
702
86.95
61,039
d. Correcting the second (Regulatory citation) and seventh columns (Total number of responses) for the listed entries (the specified MSA MLR provisions) to read as follows:
Provision
Regulatory citation
OMB Control No.
Respondent type
Response summary
Total number
of respondents
Total
number of
responses
Time per
response
(hr)
Total annual
time
(hr)
Labor cost
($/hr)
Total
annual cost
($)
MSA MLR
§ 422.2440
0938-0753
MA Plans
MSA MLR: Notify enrollees
8
2,765
0.0167
46
77.14
3,548
MSA MLR
§ 422.2440
0938-0753
MA Plans
MSA MLR: Submit to CMS
8
2,765
0.0167
46
77.14
3,548
MSA MLR
§ 422.2440
0938-0753
MA Plans
MSA MLR: Archive
8
2,765
0.0833
230
36.82
8,481
e. Correcting column 2 (Regulatory citation) for the listed entry (the specified MSA MLR provision) to read as follows:
Provision
Regulatory citation
OMB Control No.
Respondent type
Response summary
Total number
of respondents
Total
number of
responses
Time per
response
(hr)
Total annual
time
(hr)
Labor cost
($/hr)
Total
annual cost
($)
MSA MLR
§ 422.2440
0938-1252
MA Plans
MSA MLR: Calculation of the deductible factor
8
8
0.0833
0.6664
116.32
78
6. On pages 33889 and 33890, in the table titled “Table 11, Per-Year Calculations, Representing the Pre-Statute Baseline Based on Medicare FFS Coverage of Kidney Acquisition Cost”, the table title and table are corrected to read as follows:
Table 11—Per-Year Calculations, Representing the Pre-Statute Baseline Based on Medicare FFS Coverage of Kidney Acquisition Costs
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Kidney Acquisition Costs (PMPM):
1.72
1.82
1.95
2.08
2.20
2.34
2.49
2.65
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2021-2030
Kidney Acquisition Costs (PMPM):
2.82
3.00
3.20
3.40
3.62
3.85
4.10
4.36
4.64
4.94
Medicare Advantage Enrollment Projection (000's):
24,690
25,624
26,508
27,380
28,237
29,070
29,861
30,607
31,313
32,035
Gross Savings ($Millions):
836.2
923.5
1,016.6
1,117.4
1,226.3
1,343.4
1,468.4
1,601.7
1,743.7
1,898.4
13,175.6
Average government share of Gross Savings:
83.0%
83.0%
83.0%
83.1%
83.2%
83.2%
83.2%
83.4%
83.4%
83.4%
Net of Part B Premium:
85.6%
85.6%
85.5%
85.4%
85.3%
85.2%
85.0%
84.9%
84.9%
84.9%
Net Savings ($Millions):
594.1
655.7
721.5
792.3
869.5
951.7
1,038.9
1,134.1
1,235.9
1,345.6
9,339.3
( printed page 64404)
Dated: October 1, 2020.
Wilma M. Robinson,
Deputy Executive Secretary to the Department, Department of Health and Human Services.
Use this for formal legal and research references to the published document.
85 FR 64401
Web Citation
Suggested Web Citation
Use this when citing the archival web version of the document.
“Medicare Program; Contract Year 2021 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, and Medicare Cost Plan Program; Correction,” thefederalregister.org (October 13, 2020), https://thefederalregister.org/documents/2020-22481/medicare-program-contract-year-2021-policy-and-technical-changes-to-the-medicare-advantage-program-medicare-prescription.