Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 117.djvu/2411

 117 STAT. 2392

PUBLIC LAW 108–173—DEC. 8, 2003

42 USC 1395zz note.

‘‘(e) ENCOURAGEMENT OF PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATION PROGRAM ACTIVITIES.—A medicare contractor may not use a record of attendance at (or failure to attend) educational activities or other information gathered during an educational program conducted under this section or otherwise by the Secretary to select or track providers of services or suppliers for the purpose of conducting any type of audit or prepayment review. ‘‘(f) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section or section 1893(g) shall be construed as providing for disclosure by a medicare contractor— ‘‘(1) of the screens used for identifying claims that will be subject to medical review; or ‘‘(2) of information that would compromise pending law enforcement activities or reveal findings of law enforcementrelated audits. ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘medicare contractor’ includes the following: ‘‘(1) A medicare administrative contractor with a contract under section 1874A, including a fiscal intermediary with a contract under section 1816 and a carrier with a contract under section 1842. ‘‘(2) An eligible entity with a contract under section 1893. Such term does not include, with respect to activities of a specific provider of services or supplier an entity that has no authority under this title or title IX with respect to such activities and such provider of services or supplier.’’. (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

42 USC 1395zz note.

SEC. 922. SMALL PROVIDER TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a demonstration program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘demonstration program’’) under which technical assistance described in paragraph (2) is made available, upon request and on a voluntary basis, to small providers of services or suppliers in order to improve compliance with the applicable requirements of the programs under medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (including provisions of title XI of such Act insofar as they relate to such title and are not administered by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services). (2) FORMS OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The technical assistance described in this paragraph is— (A) evaluation and recommendations regarding billing and related systems; and (B) information and assistance regarding policies and procedures under the medicare program, including coding and reimbursement. (3) SMALL PROVIDERS OF SERVICES OR SUPPLIERS.—In this section, the term ‘‘small providers of services or suppliers’’ means— (A) a provider of services with fewer than 25 fulltime-equivalent employees; or (B) a supplier with fewer than 10 full-time-equivalent employees.

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