Medicare Program; Contract Year 2019 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage, Medicare Cost Plan, Medicare Fee-for-Service, the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs, and the PACE Program

Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 42 CFR Parts 405, 417, 422, 423, and 498 [CMS-4182-P] RIN 0938-AT08 AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: This proposed rule would revise the Medicare Advantage program (Part C) regulations and Prescription Drug Benefit program (Part D) regulations to implement certain provisions of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) and the 21st Century Cures Act; improve program quality, accessibility, and affordability; improve the CMS customer experience; address program integrity policies related to payments based on prescriber, provider and supplier status in Medicare Advantage, Medicare cost plan, Medicare Part D and the PACE programs; provide a proposed update to the official Medicare Part D electronic prescribing standards; and clarify program requirements and certain technical changes regarding treatment of Medicare Part A and Part B appeal rights related to premiums adjustments. DATES: To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on January 16, 2018. ADDRESSES: In commenting, please refer to file code CMS-4182-P. Because of staff and resource limitations, we cannot accept comments by facsimile (FAX) transmission. You may submit comments in one of four ways (please choose only one of the ways listed): 1. Electronically. You may submit electronic comments …