As a result of the Weichardt v. Leavitt class action lawsuit and in response to public comments, CMS set forth a final rule in November 2006, CMS-4105-F, for how hospitals must notify Medicare beneficiaries who are hospital inpatients about their hospital discharge rights. Notice is required both for original Medicare beneficiaries and for beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans and other Medicare health plans subject to the MA regulations. Under the final rule, hospitals use a revised version of the Important Message from Medicare (IM), Form CMS-R-193 to explain discharge rights. Hospitals must issue the IM within two days of admission, and must obtain the signature of the beneficiary or his or her representative. Hospitals must also deliver a copy of the signed notice to each beneficiary not more than two days before the day of discharge. This notice was approved in 2007 to fulfill the regulatory requirement
The currently approved annual response burden did not account for delivery of the follow-up copy of the IM. Since CMS has included an estimate for delivery of the follow-up notice in this submission, there is a 6,680,000 increase in annual responses.
The currently approved annual hour per response is 15 minutes and was based on the sum of the minutes required for initial IM delivery plus the minutes required for the follow-up IM delivery. A more accurate calculation of average hourly response was used to determine that the estimated average response time for delivery of this notice as either the initial IM or follow-up copy is 9 minutes. Although there is an increase in the annual response burden as noted above, the more accurate time estimate allows for a mild reduction in annual hour burden.
Please see section 12. of the Supporting Statement for details of the above.
The addition of a time notation on the collection as noted in #7 is not expected to affect burden since this collection already requires an enrollee's signature and date. Adding documentation of the time of day along with the date is a negligible change.
$0
No
No
No
Uncollected
No
Uncollected
Bonnie Harkless 4107865666
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form CMS-R-193 Medicare and Medicare Advantage Programs; Notification Procedures for Hospital Discharges : Important Message From Medicare (CMS-R-193)
Crosswalk Document for Changes to IM final.doc
Medicare and Medicare Advantage Programs; Notification Procedures for Hospital Discharges : Important Message From Medicare (CMS-R-193)