On June 6, 2019, CMS issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking new ideas from the public on how to decrease the administrative burden for healthcare providers, specifically the burden of “unnecessary paperwork.” The RFI invites healthcare providers, patients, and the broader medical community to recommend changes to the rules, policies, and procedures that would shift time and resources away from needless paperwork and toward more patient care. The RFI is expected to be published in the Federal Register tomorrow, June 11, 2019. The deadline to submit comments to the RFI is Monday, August 12, 2019.
This RFI is part of CMS’s Patients over Paperwork initiative, which launched in fall 2017. The goal of the initiative is to streamline regulations and reduce unnecessary burdens on healthcare providers to increase resources spent on patient care. “Patients over Paperwork has made great inroads in clearing away needlessly complex, outdated, or duplicative requirements that drain clinicians’ time but contribute little to quality of care or patient health,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. She continued, “[s]ince launching Patients over Paperwork in late 2017, CMS has worked closely with the healthcare community to relieve regulatory burdens and maintain flexibility and efficiency in Medicare and Medicaid, and we’re excited about the innovative ideas that today’s RFI will bring as we build on our progress and continue to achieve cost and time savings.”
CMS is specifically seeking comments on ways to streamline and improve:
- Reporting and documentation requirements;
- Coding and documentation requirements for Medicare or Medicaid payment;
- Prior authorization procedures;
- Policies and requirements for rural providers, clinicians, and beneficiaries;
- Policies and requirements for dually enrolled (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid) beneficiaries;
- Beneficiary enrollment and eligibility determination; and
- CMS processes for issuing regulations and policies.
The RFI can be found here. CMS’s press release regarding the RFI can be found here.
