System Name: Enrollment Database (EDB), HHS/CMS/CBC.
Security Classification: Level Three Privacy Act Sensitive Data.
System Location(s):
CMS Data Center, 7500 Security Boulevard, North Building, First Floor, Baltimore, Maryland 21244-1850, and at various other remote locations.
Categories of Individuals Covered by the System: Information is collected on individuals age 65 or over who have been, or currently are, entitled to health insurance (Medicare) benefits under Title XVIII of the Act or under provisions of the Railroad Retirement Act, individuals under age 65 who have been, or currently are, entitled to such benefits on the basis of having been entitled for not less than 24 months to disability benefits under Title II of the Act or under the Railroad Retirement Act, individuals who have been, or currently are, entitled to such benefits because they have ESRD, individuals age 64 and 8 months or over who are likely to become entitled to health insurance (Medicare) benefits upon attaining age 65, and individuals under age 65 who have at least 21 months of disability benefits who are likely to become entitled to Medicare upon the 25th month of their being disabled.
Categories of Records in the System: The system contains information related to Medicare enrollment and entitlement and Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) data containing other party liability insurance information necessary for appropriate Medicare claim payment. It contains hospice election, Direct billing and Third Party Premium collection information, and group health plan enrollment data. The system also contains the individual's health insurance numbers, name, geographic location, race/ethnicity, sex, and date of birth.
Authority for Maintenance of the System: Authority for maintenance of the system is given under sections 226, 226A, 1811, 1818, 1818A, 1831, 1836, 1837, 1838, 1843, 1876, and 1881 of the Social Security Act (the Act) and Title 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), parts 406, 407, 408, 411 and 424. Authority for maintenance of the system section 1862 of the Act was a published authority in the published SOR. We included section 1862 in the modified SOR since we do maintain a limited number of data elements in the EDB pertaining to MSP. Authority for maintenance of the system section 1870 of the Act was included in the modified system since the EDB does maintain data regarding direct billing for Medicare premiums. Section 1870 (g) describes refunding these premiums.
Purpose(s): The primary purpose of the SOR is to maintain information on Medicare enrollment for the administration of the Medicare program, including the following functions: ensuring proper Medicare enrollment, claims payment, Direct billing and Third Party premium collection information, coordination of benefits by validating and verifying the enrollment status of beneficiaries, and validating and studying the characteristics of persons enrolled in the Medicare program including their requirements for information. Information retrieved from this SOR will also be disclosed to: (1) Support regulatory, reimbursement, and policy functions performed within the Agency or by agency contractors, consultants, or to a grantee of a CMS-administered grant; (2) assist another Federal or state agency, agency of a state government, an agency established by state law, or its fiscal agent; (3) assist third parties where the contact is expected to have information relating to the individual's capacity to manage his or her own affairs; (4) assist providers and suppliers of services for administration of Title XVIII of the Act; (5) support Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO); (6) assist other insurers for processing individual insurance claims; (7) facilitate research on the quality and effectiveness of care provided, as well as payment-related and epidemiological projects; (8) support litigation involving the Agency; and (9) combat fraud and abuse in certain health benefits programs.
Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories of Users and the Purposes of such Uses:
A.
The Privacy Act allows us to disclose information without an individual's consent if the information is to be used for a purpose that is compatible with the purpose(s) for which the information was collected. Any such compatible use of data is known as a "routine use." The proposed routine uses in this system meet the compatibility requirement of the Privacy Act. We are proposing to establish the following routine use disclosures of information maintained in the system:
1. To support agency contractors, or consultants, or to a grantee of a CMS-administered grant program who have been engaged by the agency to assist in the accomplishment of a CMS function relating to the purposes for this system and who need to have access to the records in order to assist CMS.
2. To assist another Federal or state agency, agency of a state government, an agency established by state law, or its fiscal agent to:
a. contribute to the accuracy of CMS's proper payment of Medicare benefits;
b. enable such agency to administer a Federal health benefits program, or, as necessary, to enable such agency to fulfill a requirement of a Federal statute or regulation that implements a health benefits program funded in whole or in part with Federal funds; and/or
c. assist Federal/state Medicaid programs within the state.
3. To assist third party contacts (without the consent of the individuals to whom the information pertains) in situations where the party to be contacted has, or is expected to have information relating to the individual's capacity to manage his or her affairs or to his or her eligibility for, or an entitlement to, benefits under the Medicare program and,
a. The individual is unable to provide the information being sought (an individual is considered to be unable to provide certain types of information when any of the following conditions exists: the individual is confined to a mental institution, a court of competent jurisdiction has appointed a guardian to manage the affairs of that individual, a court of competent jurisdiction has declared the individual to be mentally incompetent, or the individual's attending physician has certified that the individual is not sufficiently mentally competent to manage his or her own affairs or to provide the information being sought, the individual cannot read or write, cannot afford the cost of obtaining the information, a language barrier exist, or the custodian of the information will not, as a matter of policy, provide it to the individual), or
b. The data are needed to establish the validity of evidence or to verify the accuracy of information presented by the individual, and it concerns one or more of the following: the individual's entitlement to benefits under the Medicare program; and the amount of reimbursement; any case in which the evidence is being reviewed as a result of suspected fraud and abuse, program integrity, quality appraisal, or evaluation and measurement of program activities.
4. To assist providers and suppliers of services dealing through fiscal intermediaries or carriers for the administration of Title XVIII of the Social Security Act.
5. To support Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO) in order to assist the QIO to perform Title XI and Title XVIII functions relating to assessing and improving HHA quality of care.
6. To assist insurance companies, third party administrators (TPA), employers, self-insurers, managed care organizations, other supplemental insurers, non-coordinating insurers, multiple employer trusts, group health plans (i.e., health maintenance organizations (HMOs) or a competitive medical plan (CMP) with a Medicare contract, or a Medicare-approved health care prepayment plan (HCPP)), directly or through a contractor, and other groups providing protection for their enrollees. Information to be disclosed shall be limited to Medicare entitlement data. In order to receive the information, they must agree to:
a. Certify that the individual about whom the information is being provided is one of its insured or employees, or is insured and/or employed by another entity for whom they serve as a TPA;
b. utilize the information solely for the purpose of processing the identified individual's insurance claims; and
c. safeguard the confidentiality of the data and prevent unauthorized access.
7. To support an individual or organization for a research, evaluation, or epidemiological project related to the prevention of disease or disability, the restoration or maintenance of health, or payment-related projects.
8. To assist the Department of Justice (DOJ), court or adjudicatory body when:
a. the Agency or any component thereof, or
b. any employee of the Agency in his or her official capacity, or
c. any employee of the Agency in his or her individual capacity where the DOJ has agreed to represent the employee, or
d. the United States Government, is a party to litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and by careful review, CMS determines that the records are both relevant and necessary to the litigation and that the use of such records by the DOJ, court or adjudicatory body is compatible with the purpose for which the agency collected the records.
9. To assist a CMS contractor (including, but not limited to FIs and carriers) that assists in the administration of a CMS-administered health benefits program, or to a grantee of a CMS-administered grant program, when disclosure is deemed reasonably necessary by CMS to prevent, deter, discover, detect, investigate, examine, prosecute, sue with respect to, defend against, correct, remedy, or otherwise combat fraud or abuse in such programs.
10. To assist another Federal agency or to an instrumentality of any governmental jurisdiction within or under the control of the United States (including any state or local governmental agency), that administers, or that has the authority to investigate potential fraud or abuse in, a health benefits program funded in whole or in part by Federal funds, when disclosure is deemed reasonably necessary by CMS to prevent, deter, discover, detect, investigate, examine, prosecute, sue with respect to, defend against, correct, remedy, or otherwise combat fraud or abuse in such programs.
B. Additional Provisions Affecting Routine Use Disclosures
To the extent this system contains Protected Health Information (PHI) as defined by HHS regulation "Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information" (45 CFR parts 160 and 164, subparts A and E) 65 Fed. Reg. 82462 (12-28-00). Disclosures of such PHI that are otherwise authorized by these routine uses may only be made if, and as, permitted or required by the " Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information."
In addition, our policy will be to prohibit release even of data not directly identifiable, except pursuant to one of the routine uses or if required by law, if we determine there is a possibility that an individual can be identified through implicit deduction based on small cell sizes (instances where the patient population is so small that individuals who are familiar with the enrollees could, because of the small size, use this information to deduce the identity of the beneficiary).
Policies and Practices for Storing, Retrieving, Accessing, Retaining, and Disposing of Records in the System—
Storage: All records are stored on magnetic media.
Retrievability: All Medicare records are accessible by HIC number or alpha (name) search. This system supports both on-line and batch access.
Safeguards: CMS has safeguards for authorized users and monitors such users to ensure against excessive or unauthorized use. Personnel having access to the system have been trained in the Privacy Act and systems security requirements. Employees who maintain records in the system are instructed not to release any data until the intended recipient agrees to implement appropriate administrative, technical, procedural, and physical safeguards sufficient to protect the confidentiality of the data and to prevent unauthorized access to the data.
In addition, CMS has physical safeguards in place to reduce the exposure of computer equipment and thus achieve an optimum level of protection and security for the EDB system. For computerized records, safeguards have been established in accordance with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) standards and National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines, e.g., security codes will be used, limiting access to authorized personnel. System securities are established in accordance with HHS, Information Resource Management (IRM) Circular #10, Automated Information Systems Security Program; CMS Automated Information Systems (AIS) Guide, Systems Securities Policies, and OMB Circular No. A-130 (revised), Appendix III.
Retention and Disposal: Records are maintained for a period of 15 years. All claims-related records are encompassed by the document preservation order and will be retained until notification is received from DOJ.
System Manager(s) and Address(es):
Director, Division of Enrollment & Eligibility Policy, Medicare Enrollment and Appeals Group, Centers for Beneficiary Choices, Mail Stop C2-09-17, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21244-1849.
Notification Procedure: For purpose of access, the subject individual should write to the system manager who will require the system name, health insurance claim number, address, date of birth, and sex, and for verification purposes, the subject individual's name (woman's maiden name, if applicable), and social security number (SSN). Furnishing the SSN is voluntary, but it may make searching for a record easier and prevent delay.
Record Access Procedures:
For purpose of access, use the same procedures outlined in Notification Procedures above. Requestors should also reasonably specify the record contents being sought. (These procedures are in accordance with department regulation 45 CFR 5b.5(a)(2)).
Contesting Record Procedures: The subject individual should contact the systems manager named above, and reasonably identify the record and specify the information to be contested. State the corrective action sought and the reasons for the correction with supporting justification. (These procedures are in accordance with department regulation 45 CFR 5b.7).
Record Source Categories: The data contained in these records are furnished by the individual, or in the case of some MSP situations, through third party contacts. There are cases, however, in which the identifying information is provided to the physician by the individual; the physician then adds the medical information and submits the bill to the carrier for payment. Updating information is also obtained from the Railroad Retirement Board, and the Master Beneficiary Record maintained by the SSA.
System Exempted from Certain Provisions of the Act: None.
