(a) Basis and purpose. This section implements—

(1) Section 1902(a)(36) of the Act, which requires a State plan to provide that the State survey agency will make publicly available the findings from surveys of health care facilities, laboratories, agencies, clinics, or organizations; and

(2) Section 1106(d) of the Act, which places certain restrictions on the Medicaid agency's disclosure of contractor and provider evaluations.

(b) Definition of State survey agency. The State survey agency referred to in this section means the agency specified under section 1902(a)(9) of the Act as responsible for establishing and maintaining health standards for private or public institutions in which Medicaid beneficiaries may receive services.

(c) State plan requirements. A State plan must provide that the requirements of this section and §488.325 of this chapter are met.

(d) Disclosure procedure. The Medicaid agency must have a procedure for disclosing pertinent findings obtained from surveys made by the State survey agency to determine if a health care facility, laboratory, agency, clinic or health care organization meets the requirements for participation in the Medicaid program.

(e) Documents subject to disclosure. Documents subject to disclosure include—

(1) Survey reports, except for Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals reports prohibited from disclosure under §422.426(b)(2) of this chapter;

(2) Official notifications of findings based on survey reports:

(3) Pertinent parts of written documents furnished by the health care provider to the survey agency that relate to the reports and findings; and

(4) Ownership and contract information as specified in §455.104 of this subchapter.

(f) Availability for inspection and copy of statements listing deficiencies. The disclosure procedure must provide that the State survey agency will—

(1) Make statements of deficiencies based on the survey reports available for inspection and copying in both the public assistance office and the Social Security Administration district office serving the area where the provider is located; and

(2) Submit to the Regional Medicaid Director, through the Medicaid agency, a plan for making those findings available in other public assistance offices in standard metropolitian statistical areas where this information would be helpful to persons likely to use the health care provider's services.

(g) When documents must be made available. The disclosure procedure must provide that the State survey agency will—

(1) Retain in the survey agency office and make available upon request survey reports and current and accurate ownership information; and

(2) Make available survey reports, findings, and deficiency statements immediately upon determining that a health care provider is eligible to begin or continue participation in the Medicaid program, or within 90 days after completion of the survey, whichever occurs first.

(h) Evaluation reports on providers and contractors.

(1) If the Secretary sends the following reports to the Medicaid agency, the agency must meet the requirements of paragraphs (h) (2) and (3) of this section in releasing them:

(i) Individual contractor performance reviews and other formal performance evaluations of carriers, intermediaries, and State agencies, including the reports of followup reviews;

(ii) Comparative performance evaluations of those contractors, including comparisons of either overall performance or of any particular aspect of contractor operations; and

(iii) Program validation survey reports and other formal performance evaluations of providers, including the reports of followup reviews.

(2) The agency must not make the reports public until—

(i) The contractor or provider has had a reasonable opportunity, not to exceed 30 days, to comment on them; and

(ii) Those comments have been incorporated in the report.

(3) The agency must ensure that the reports contain no identification of individual patients, individual health care practitioners or other individuals.

[43 FR 45188, Sept. 29, 1978, as amended at 44 FR 41644, July 17, 1979; 59 FR 56232, Nov. 10, 1994]