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HHS Logo Eagle IconU.S. Department of Health and Human Services

2010 Technical Review Panel on the Medicare Trustees Report: Amended Charter

Authority

42 USC 217a; Section 222 of the Public Health Services Act, as amended. The Committee is governed by provisions of Public Law 92-463, as amended (5 USC Appendix 2), which sets forth standards for the formation and use of advisory committees.

Objective and Scope of Activities

It shall be the function of the Technical Review Panel on the Medicare Trustees Reports to advise the Secretary concerning the assumptions, methods and presentation underlying the Hospital Insurance and Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund annual reports.

Description of Duties

The Committee's duties shall be to advise the Secretary in carrying out her role as a trustee of the Medicare Trust Funds. Specifically those duties shall include, but not be limited to, a review of the following six topics:

  1. appropriate bases for setting long-range Medicare per-beneficiary expenditure growth assumptions and associated issues such as the determination of sustainable shares of health spending
  2. the sustainability of key Medicare cost growth factors under current law
  3. current assumptions regarding the long-term rate of growth in medical expenditures and/or changes in utilization of care
  4. current and alternate projection methodologies
  5. long-range growth assumptions for HI and SMI
  6. recommendations for areas of future research to improve the long term projection methods, such as incorporating trends in health status.

The Committee may also examine other methodological issues identified by the Committee members. The Committee's interim final and final reports and its recommendations to the Secretary shall only be advisory in nature.

In these matters, the Committee shall consult with all relevant components of the Department, other federal entities, and non-federal organizations and experts, as appropriate; and examine relevant data sources to assess the validity of the long range assumptions and related matters.

Agency or Official to Whom the Committee Reports

The Committee shall provide advice and recommendations regarding the assumptions, methods and presentation to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the designated Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

Support

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation shall provide executive secretariat and logistical support services to the Committee and shall oversee and coordinate the overall management and staffing of the Committee.

Estimated Annual Operating Costs and Staff Years

Estimated annual cost for operating the Committee, including compensation and travel expenses for members but excluding staff support, is $200,000. Estimated annual person-years of staff support required is .6 at an estimated annual cost of $100,000.

Designated Federal Officer

The Office of the Assistant Secretary will select a full-time or permanent part-time Federal employee to serve as the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) to attend each Committee meeting and ensure that all procedures are within the applicable statutory, regulatory, and HHS General Administration Manual directives. The DFO will approve and prepare all meeting agenda, call the Committee and subcommittee meetings, adjourn any meeting when the DFO determines adjournment to be in the public interest, and chair meetings when directed to do so by the official to whom the Committee reports. The DFO or his or her designee shall be present at all Committee and subcommittee meetings.

Estimated Number and Frequency of Meetings

The Committee shall meet approximately eight to twelve times, over a 12 month period, at the call of the Designated Federal Officer in consultation with the Chair.

Meetings shall be open to the public except as determined otherwise by the Secretary, HHS or designee in accordance with the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b(c)) and Section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Notice of all meetings shall be given to the public. Meetings shall be conducted, and records of the proceedings kept, as required by the applicable laws and departmental regulations.

Duration

Continuing.

Termination Date

Unless renewed by appropriate action prior to its expiration, the Technical Review Committee on the Medicare Trustees Reports will terminate two years from the date the charter is filed.

Membership and Designation

The Committee shall consist of up to nine members selected by the Secretary, or designee, who are experts in health economics, actuarial science, statistics, public policy, and other fields related to Medicare policy that could inform and substantively contribute to committee deliberations. The Secretary, or her designee, shall appoint one of the members to serve as the Chair. Members shall be invited to serve for the duration of the Committee. Members will serve as Special Government Employees. Federal Officials may be appointed to the Committee as Ex Officio Members with full voting rights at the discretion of the Secretary, or designee.

Membership terms of more than two years are contingent upon the renewal of the Committee by appropriate action prior to its termination. Any member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his or her predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of such term. A member may serve 180 days after the expiration of that member's term if a successor has not taken office.

Members who are not full-time Federal employees shall be paid at a rate of $200/day. All members, while so serving away from their homes or regular places of business, may be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in the same manner as such expenses are authorized by Section 5703, Title 5, U.S. Code, for employees serving intermittently.

Subcommittees

Subcommittees and ad hoc subcommittees and working groups may be established with the approval of the Secretary or her designee to address specific issues and to provide the Committee with background study and proposals for consideration and action. The subcommittees shall make their recommendations to the parent Committee for deliberation. Timely notification of the subcommittees, including charges and membership, shall be made in writing to the Department Committee Management Officer by the Executive Secretary of the Committee.

Recordkeeping

The records of the Committee, established subcommittees, or other subgroups of the Committee, shall be managed in accordance with General Records Schedule 26, Item 2 or other approved agency records disposition schedule. These records shall be available for public inspection and copying, subject to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552.

Filing Date

 

APPROVED:

 

Date                                                               Secretary of Health and Human Services