System Name: "Medicare Supplier Identification File (MSIF)," HHS/CMS/OFM
Security Classification: Level Three Privacy Act Sensitive Data.
System Location(s):
National Supplier Clearing House, Palmetto Government Benefits Administrators, Interstate 20 at Alpine Road, Columbia, South Carolina 29219.
Categories of Individuals Covered by the System: MSIF contains information on owners and managing employees of suppliers of Durable Medicare Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS), which provide service or supplies to Medicare beneficiaries.
Categories of Records in the System: The system contains, but is not limited to: business names and addresses, owner's name, owner's social security number (SSN), Unique Physician/Practitioner Identification Number (UPIN), managing employee's name, employer identification number or other tax reporting number, and the carrier assigned billing numbers.
Authority for Maintenance of the System: Authority for maintenance of the system is given under sections 1124, 1124A, 1126, and 1833(e) of the Social Security Act (Title 42, United States Code (U.S.C.) §§ 1320a-3, 1320a-3a, 1320a-5, and 13951(e)).
Purpose(s): The primary purpose of this modified system is to identify supplier businesses that are eligible to receive Medicare payments for items and services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries as well as owners, managing employees, and subcontractors in those suppliers. The information retrieved from this system of records will also be disclosed to: (1) support regulatory, reimbursement, and policy functions performed within the agency or by a contractor, consultant, or grantee; (2) support litigation involving the agency; and (3) combat fraud, waste, and abuse in Federally-funded health benefits programs.
Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories of Users and the Purposes of such Uses:
B.
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 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 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.
3. To a CMS contractor (including, but not necessarily limited to fiscal intermediaries 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, waste, or abuse in such program.
4. To 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, waste, 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, waste, or abuse in such programs.
C. 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 FR 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." (See 45 CFR 164-512(a)(1)).
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 an individual 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 computer diskette and magnetic storage media.
Retrievability: Information can be retrieved by the business names and addresses, owner's name, owner's SSN, UPIN, managing employee's name, employer identification number or other tax reporting number, and the Medicare contractor assigned billing numbers.
Safeguards: CMS has safeguards in place for authorized users and monitors such users to ensure against unauthorized use. Personnel having access to the system have been trained in the Privacy Act and information security requirements. Employees who maintain records in this system are instructed not to release data until the intended recipient agrees to implement appropriate management, operational and technical safeguards sufficient to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information and information systems and to prevent unauthorized access.
This system will conform to all applicable Federal laws and regulations and Federal, HHS, and CMS policies and standards as they relate to information security and data privacy. These laws and regulations may apply but are not limited to: the Privacy Act of 1974; the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002; the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986; the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; the E-Government Act of 2002, the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996; the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, and the corresponding implementing regulations. OMB Circular A-130, Management of Federal Resources, Appendix III, Security of Federal Automated Information Resources also applies. Federal, HHS, and CMS policies and standards include but are not limited to: all pertinent National Institute of Standards and Technology publications; the HHS Information Systems Program Handbook and the CMS Information Security Handbook.
Retention and Disposal: Records are maintained by CMS for a period not to exceed 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 Provider/Supplier Enrollment, Program Integrity Group, Office of Financial Management, CMS, Mail Stop C3- 02-16, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21244-1850.
Notification Procedure: For purpose of access, the subject individual should write to the system manager who will require the system name, address, date of birth, and gender, and for verification purposes, the subject individual's name (woman's maiden name, if applicable), and 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 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 system manager named above, and reasonably identify the records 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: Sources of information contained in this records system include data collected from the application which the supplier completes to obtain Medicare billing numbers. (CMS Form 192--prior to August 1996, CMS Form 888--April 1996 through May 1997, and CMS Form 855S --after May 1997).
System Exempted from Certain Provisions of the Act: None.
