PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT
Federal law requires that Healthcare Management Group provide you with the following notice. Healthcare Management Group is required to comply with that law in order to receive any payment from Medicare or Medicaid for services provided to its residents. This form is not a consent form to release or use health care information pertaining to you. 1) ..... Authority for collection of information including social security number (SSN) ........ Sections 1819(f), 1919(f), 1819(b)(3)(A), 1919(b)(3)(A), and 1864 of the Social Security Act. ........ Skilled nursing facilities for Medicare and Medicaid are required to conduct comprehensive, accurate, standardized, and reproducible assessments of each resident's functional capacity and health status. As of June 22, 1998 all skilled nursing and nursing facilities are required to establish a database of resident assessment information and to electronically transmit this information to the State. The State is then required to transmit the data to the federal Central Office Minimum Data Set (MDS) repository of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). ........ These data are protected under the requirements of the Federal Privacy Act of 1974 and the MDS Long Term Care System of Records. 2) ..... Principal purposes for which information is intended to be used ........ The information will be used to track changes in health and functional status over time for purposes of evaluating and improving the quality of care provided by nursing homes that participate in Medicare or Medicaid. Submission of MDS information may also be necessary for the nursing homes to receive reimbursement for Medicare services. 3) ..... Routine uses ........ The primary use of this information is to aid in the administration of the survey and certification of Medicare/Medicaid long term care facilities and to improve the effectiveness and quality of care given in those facilities. This system will also support regulatory, reimbursement, policy, and research functions. This system will collect the minimum amount of personal data needed to accomplish its stated purpose. ........ The information collected will be entered into the Long Term Care Minimum Data Set (LTC MDS) system of records, System No. 09-70-1516. Information from this system may be disclosed, under specific circumstances, to: (1) a congressional office from the record of an individual in response to an inquiry from the congressional made at the request of that individual; (2) the Federal Bureau of Census; (3) the Federal Department of Justice; (4) an individual or organization for a research, evaluation, or epidemiological project related to the prevention of disease of disability, or the restoration of health; (5) contractors working for CMS to carry out Medicare/Medicaid functions, collating or analyzing data, or to detect fraud or abuse; (6) an agency of a State government for purposes of determining, evaluating and/or assessing overall or aggregate cost, effectiveness, and/or quality of health care services provided in the State; (7) another Federal agency to fulfill a requirement of a Federal statute that implements a health benefits program funded in whole or in part with Federal funds or to detect fraud or abuse; (8) Peer Review Organizations to perform Title XI or Title XVIII functions, (9) another entity that makes payment for or oversees administration of health care services for preventing fraud or abuse under specific conditions. 4) .... Whether disclosure is mandatory or voluntary and effect on individual of not providing information ........ For nursing home residents residing in a certified Medicare/Medicaid nursing facility, the requested information is mandatory because of the need to assess the effectiveness and quality of care given in certified facilities and to assess the appropriateness of provided services. If a nursing home does not submit the required data, it cannot be reimbursed for any Medicare/Medicaid services.