Medicare program: revisions to criteria and standards for evaluating intermediaries and carriers--HCFA. Final rule.

This rule issues technical amendments to Medicare regulations intended to simplify and improve our system for evaluating the performance of fiscal intermediaries and carriers in the administration of the Medicare program. Currently, we evaluate intermediaries using performance criteria and standards announced in an annual notice in the Federal Register. We are clarifying the methodology for establishing these criteria and standards. For consistency, we establish comparable regulation requirements for the evaluation of carrier performance. These revisions are published in accordance with sections 1816(f) and 1842(b)(2) of the Social Security Act which require us to develop standards, criteria, and procedures to evaluate an intermediary's or carrier's overall performance.