(a) Every hospital seeking payment for services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries must maintain a written agreement with a QIO operating in the area in which the hospital is located. These agreements must provide for the QIO review specified in §476.71.

(b) Cooperation with QIOs. Health care providers that submit Medicare claims must cooperate in the assumption and conduct of QIO review.

(1) Providers must allocate adequate space to the QIO for its conduct of review at the times the QIO is conducting review.

(2) Providers and practitioners must provide patient care data and other pertinent data to the QIO at the time the QIO is collecting review information that is required for the QIO to make its determinations. When the QIO does postadmission, preprocedure review, the provider must provide the necessary information before the procedure is performed, unless it must be performed on an emergency basis. Providers and practitioners must—

(i) Except as provided under §§476.130(b) and 476.160(b), relating to beneficiary complaint reviews and general quality of care reviews, photocopy and deliver to the QIO all required information within 14 calendar days of a request. A QIO is authorized to require the receipt of the medical information earlier than the 14-day timeframe if the QIO makes a preliminary determination that the review involves a potential gross and flagrant or substantial violation as specified in part 1004 of this title and circumstances warrant earlier receipt of the medical information. A practitioner's or provider's failure to comply with the request for medical information within the established timeframe may result in the QIO taking action in accordance with §476.90.

(ii) Send secure transmission of an electronic version of medical information, if available, subject to the QIO's ability to support receipt and transmission of the electronic version. Providers and practitioners must deliver electronic versions of medical information within 14 calendar days of the request. A QIO is authorized to require the receipt of the medical information earlier than the 14-day timeframe if the QIO makes a preliminary determination that the review involves a potential gross and flagrant or substantial violation as specified in part 1004 of this title and circumstances warrant earlier receipt of the medical information. A practitioner's or provider's failure to comply with the request for medical information within the established timeframe may result in the QIO taking action in accordance with §476.90.

(3) Providers must inform Medicare beneficiaries at the time of admission, in writing, that the care for which Medicare payment is sought will be subject to QIO review and indicate the potential outcomes of that review. Furnishing this information to the patient does not constitute notice, under §411.402(a) of this chapter, that can support a finding that the beneficiary knew the services were not covered.

(4) When the provider has issued a written determination in accordance with §412.42(c)(3) of this chapter that a beneficiary no longer requires inpatient hospital care, it must submit a copy of its determination to the QIO within 3 working days.

(5) Providers must assure, in accordance with the provisions of their agreements with the QIO, that each case subject to preadmission review has been reviewed and approved by the QIO before admission to the hospital or a timely request has been made for QIO review.

(6)

(i) Providers must agree to accept financial liability for any admission subject to preadmission review that was not reviewed by the QIO and is subsequently determined to be inappropriate or not medically necessary.

(ii) The provisions of paragraph (b)(6)(i) of this section do not apply if a provider, in accordance with its agreement with a QIO, makes a timely request for preadmission review and the QIO does not review the case timely. Cases of this type are subject to retrospective prepayment review under paragraph (b)(7) of this section.

(7) Hospitals must agree that, if the hospital admits a case subject to preadmission review without certification, the case must receive retrospective prepayment review, according to the review priority established by the QIO.

(c) Photocopying reimbursement methodology for prospective payment system providers. Providers subject to the prospective payment system are paid for the photocopying costs that are directly attributable to the providers' responsibility to the QIOs to provide photocopies of requested provider records. The payment is in addition to payment already provided for these costs under other provisions of the Social Security Act and is based on a fixed amount per page as determined by CMS as follows:

(1) Step one. CMS adds the annual salary of a photocopy machine operator and the costs of fringe benefits as determined in accordance with the principles set forth in OMB Circular A-76.

(2) Step two. CMS divides the amount determined in paragraph (c)(1) of this section by the number of pages that can be reasonably expected to be made annually by the photocopy machine operator to establish the labor cost per page.

(3) CMS adds to the per-page labor cost determined in paragraph (c)(2) of this section the per-page costs of supplies.

(4) CMS will periodically review the photocopy reimbursement rate to ensure that it still accurately reflects provider costs. CMS will publish any changes to the rate in a Federal Register notice.

(d) Appeals. Reimbursement for the costs of photocopying and mailing records for QIO review is an additional payment to providers under the prospective payment system, as specified in §412.115, §413.355, and §484.265 of this chapter. Thus, appeals concerning these costs are subject to the review process specified in part 405, subpart R of this chapter.

[50 FR 15330, Apr. 17, 1985, as amended at 57 FR 47787, Oct. 20, 1992; 59 FR 45402, Sept. 1, 1994. Redesignated at 64 FR 66279, Nov. 24, 1999, as amended at 68 FR 67960, Dec. 5, 2003; 76 FR 51784, Aug. 18, 2011; 77 FR 53682, Aug. 31, 2012; 77 FR 68560, Nov. 15, 2012]