CMS has awarded a five year contract
to RTI International (RTI) to collect data, conduct analyses, and
report the results. To complete the contract, RTI will: (1) develop
a data collection strategy, including the recruitment of therapy
providers to participate in data collection, (2) analyze the
resulting data to identify payment alternatives to therapy caps,
and (3) engage with the stakeholder community closely throughout
the project. Outpatient therapy services are furnished in such
diverse settings as hospital outpatient facilities, skilled nursing
facilities (SNF), comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation
facilities (CORF), and outpatient rehabilitation facilities (ORF).
In addition, outpatient therapy services may be furnished by
individual practitioners including physical therapists in private
practice (PTPP), occupational therapists in private practice
(OTPP), physicians, and specified non-physician practitioners (NPP)
as permissible by state law. In order to compare beneficiary needs
across these settings, it is important to collect these data using
similar items across settings and disciplines. Although there
currently exist assessment instruments for outpatient therapy, the
item definitions and rating scales differ across these instruments
and these instruments have not been tested in the full range of
Medicare patients and therapy settings. These differences in the
existing assessment instruments make it difficult to compare
patient function and clinical characteristics across them.
PL:
Pub.L. 106 - 554 1 Name of Law: Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP
Benefits Improvement and Protection Act (BIPA)
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.