System Name: "Medicaid Integrity Program System (MIPS)," HHS/CMS/CMSO.
Security Classification: Level Three Privacy Act Sensitive Data.
System Location(s):
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Data Center, 7500 Security Boulevard, North Building, First Floor, Baltimore, Maryland 21244-1850 and at various contractor sites and at CMS Regional Offices.
Categories of Individuals Covered by the System: MIPS contain information on Medicaid beneficiaries, and physicians and other providers involved in furnishing services to Medicaid beneficiaries.
Categories of Records in the System: Information contained in this system includes, but is not limited to: Assigned Medicaid identification number, name, address, social security number (SSN), health insurance claim number (HICN), date of birth, gender, ethnicity and race, medical services, equipment, and supplies for which Medicaid reimbursement is requested, and materials used to determine amount of benefits allowable under Medicaid. Information on physicians and other providers of services to the beneficiary consist of an assigned provider identification number, and information used to determine whether a sanction or suspension is warranted.
Authority for Maintenance of the System: Authority for maintenance of the system is given under section 6034 of the Deficient Reduction Act of 2005 Act (Pub. L. 109-171) (revising Title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.)) which establishes the Medicaid Integrity Program under which the Secretary shall provide CMS the resources necessary to combat fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicaid program.
Purpose(s): The primary purpose of this system is to establish an accurate, current, and comprehensive database containing standardized enrollment, eligibility, and paid claims of Medicaid beneficiaries to assist in the detection of fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Information retrieved from this system will also be disclosed to: (1) Support regulatory, reimbursement, and policy functions performed within the agency or by a contractor, consultant or a CMS grantee; (2) assist another Federal or state agency with information to enable such agency to administer a Federal health benefits program, or to enable such agency to fulfill a requirement of Federal statute or regulation that implements a health benefits program funded in whole or in part with Federal funds; (3) support a research or evaluation project; (4) support litigation involving the agency; and (5) combat fraud, waste, and abuse in a federally-funded health benefit program.
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 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 another Federal or state agency to:
a. Contribute to the accuracy of CMS' proper management of Medicare/Medicaid benefits; and/or
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 an individual or organization for a research project or in support of an evaluation project related to the prevention of disease or disability, the restoration or maintenance of health, or payment related projects.
4. 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.
5. 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 or abuse in such program.
6. 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 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, 65 FR 82462 (12-28-00), Subparts A and E) 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 computer diskette and magnetic media.
Retrievability: Information can be retrieved by the assigned beneficiary identification number, SSN, HICN, and the assigned physician or other providers of services identification number.
Safeguards: CMS has safeguards in place 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 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: CMS will retain identifiable MIPS data for a total period not to exceed 5 years after the final determination of the case is completed.
System Manager(s) and Address(es):
Director, Division of Medicaid Integrity Contracting, Program Integrity Group, Center for Medicaid and State Operations, CMS, Mail Stop B2-2923, 7111 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, HICN, 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: CMS obtains the identifying information contained in this system from state Medicaid agencies, or Medicaid Management Information Systems maintained by the individual states, and information contained on CMS Form 2082.
System Exempted from Certain Provisions of the Act: None.
