431.972—Claims sampling procedures.

(a) Claims universe.
(1) The PERM claims universe includes payments that were originally paid (paid claims) and for which payment was requested but denied (denied claims) during the FFY, and for which there is FFP (or would have been if the claim had not been denied) through Title XIX (Medicaid) or Title XXI (CHIP).
(2) The State must establish controls to ensure FFS and managed care universes are accurate and complete, including comparing the FFS and managed care universes to the Form CMS-64 and Form CMS-21 as appropriate.
(b) Sample size. CMS estimates a State's annual sample size for claims review at the beginning of the PERM cycle.
(1) Precision and confidence levels. The annual sample size should be estimated to achieve a State-level error rate within a 3 percent precision level at 95 percent confidence interval for the claims component of the PERM program, unless the precision requirement is waived by CMS on its own initiative.
(2) Base year sample size. The annual sample size in a State's first PERM cycle (the “base year”) is—
(i) Five hundred fee-for-service claims and 250 managed care payments drawn from the claims universe; or
(ii) If the claims universe of fee-for-service claims or managed care capitation payments from which the annual sample is drawn is less than 10,000, the State may request to reduce its sample size by the finite population correction factor for the relevant PERM cycle.
(3) Subsequent year sample size. In PERM cycles following the base year:
(i) CMS considers the error rate from the State's previous PERM cycle to determine the State's annual sample size for the current PERM cycle.
(ii) The maximum sample size is 1,000 fee-for-service or managed care payments, respectively.
(iii) If a State measured in the FY 2007 or FY 2008 cycle elects to reject its State-specific CHIP PERM rate determined during those cycles, information from those cycles will not be used to calculate its annual sample size in subsequent PERM cycles and the State's annual sample size in its base year is 500 fee-for-service and 250 managed care payments.
[75 FR 48849, Aug. 11, 2010]