PAYMENT SAFEGUARD CONTRACTOR DRAFT STATEMENT OF WORK The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) intends to issue the Medicare Integrity Program (MIP) Program Safeguard Contractor (PSC) DRAFT Statement of Work (SOW) for comment on April 6, 1998 and hold a Pre-Solicitation Conference for this effort on April 17, 1998. BACKGROUND: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) provides a stable source of incrementally increasing funds earmarked for the Medicare program safeguard activities in order to promote the integrity of the Medicare program. In addition, it enables HCFA to contract with a broader group of entities other than the insurers currently serving as Medicare Intermediaries and Carriers. Activities such as audit, medical review, and potential fraud investigations will be consolidated into a single contract in order to ensure that potential fraud and abuse problems are indentified and investigated from all angles. This effort will establish a Contractor called a "Program Safeguard Contractor (PSC)" dedicated to program integrity. The PSC will work closely with affiliated contractors which are entities that perform claims processing and other non-program safeguard activities. The geographical jurisdiction in which the work will done is yet to be determined. However, the PSC will intend to visit the HCFA library to view secondary attachments). You are encouraged to use the Internet MIP web site to obtain a copy of the PSC Draft SOW. If you choose to download the DRAFT SOW or order a CD ROM or a paper Draft SOW via Internet form, please do so ONLY ONCE to maintain the integrity of the PSC Interested Parties Database. The CD ROM or paper Draft SOW will then be sent to each organization. For interested sources who choose not to use the Internet MIP web site to obtain a copy of the PSC Draft SOW or pre-solicitation conference information, please contact Dawn Tucker, Contract Specialist at 410-786-5162, or write HCFA, ATTN: Dawn Tucker, 7500 Security Blvd., C2-21-15, Baltimore, MD 21244-1850, or send E-mail to PSC@HCFA.GOV.

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