Federal Register Record
Public Federal Register documents connected to the regulatory work of Thomas J. Kessler at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
How attribution works. CMS speaks institutionally as “we” in rulemaking, so a rule never attributes authorship internally. The point-of-contact listing is the only form of individual attribution the Federal Register provides.
Everything below is grouped by what the public record shows. Every citation links through the U.S. Government Publishing Office GovInfo citation service to the official document. Rule titles are abbreviated to their relevant subject; the linked documents carry the full titles.
Rulemaking: named as CMS point of contact
Eleven documents between July 2012 and July 2021: five final rules and six proposed rules. Contact lines are quoted verbatim.
Final rules (5)
Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs; Electronic Reporting Pilot; Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities Quality Reporting Program; Revision to Quality Improvement Organization Regulations.
“Thomas Kessler, (401) 786-1991, for issues related to QIO regulations.” The area code is printed as 401 in this document; every other document prints 410.
Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System, FY 2019 Rates; and Physician Certification and Recertification of Claims.
“Thomas Kessler, (410) 786-1991, Physician Certification and Recertification of Claims.”
Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems; Prior Authorization Process and Requirements for Certain Covered Outpatient Department Services.
“Prior Authorization Process and Requirements for Certain Hospital Outpatient Department Services, contact Thomas Kessler via email … or at 410-786-1991.”
CY 2020 Revisions to Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule; Establishment of an Ambulance Data Collection System.
“Thomas Kessler, (410) 786-1991, for issues related to ambulance physician certification statement.”
Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems; New Categories for Hospital Outpatient Department Prior Authorization Process.
“Prior Authorization Process and Requirements for Certain Covered Outpatient Department Services, contact Thomas Kessler via email …”
Proposed rules (6)
Hospital Outpatient Prospective and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs; Quality Improvement Organization Regulations.
“Thomas Kessler, (410) 786-1991, for issues related to QIO regulations.”
Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems, FY 2019 Rates; and Physician Certification and Recertification of Claims.
“Thomas Kessler, (410) 786-1991, Physician Certification and Recertification of Claims.”
Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems; Proposed Prior Authorization Process and Requirements for Certain Covered Outpatient Department Services.
“Prior Authorization Process and Requirements for Certain Hospital Outpatient Department Services, contact Thomas Kessler via email … or at 410-786-1991.”
CY 2020 Revisions to Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule; Establishment of an Ambulance Data Collection System.
“Thomas Kessler, (410) 786-1991, for issues related to ambulance physician certification statement.”
Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems; New Categories for Hospital Outpatient Department Prior Authorization Process.
“Prior Authorization Process and Requirements for Certain Covered Outpatient Department Services, contact Thomas Kessler via email …”
CY 2022 Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule; Provider Enrollment Regulation Updates; Provider and Supplier Prepayment and Post-Payment Medical Review Requirements.
“Thomas J. Kessler, (410) 786-1991, for issues related to provider and supplier prepayment and post-payment medical review requirements.”
One precision note on the medical review regulations. Mr. Kessler is the named contact on the proposed rule at 86 FR 39104. The final rule at 86 FR 64996 lists a different CMS staff member for that topic. Before that rulemaking, CMS had no regulatory provisions governing contractor prepayment or post-payment medical review at all.
Information collections: named as policy contact
Six Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) notices, covering three information collections. The PRA requires two notices per collection, a proposed-collection notice and then a submission for review by the Office of Management and Budget, so the six notices below represent three underlying collections. All three fall within the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) program. These are information collection clearances, not rules.
In each notice the contact line reads: “For policy questions regarding this collection contact Tom Kessler at 410-786-1991.”
Information Collection Requirements in HSQ-110, Acquisition, Protection and Disclosure of Peer Review Organization Information
Medicare Quality of Care Complaint Form
Information Collection Requirements in 42 CFR 478
Authored provisions without a contact listing
Seven documents. For each, the provision, its location, and the Code of Federal Regulations section it created or amended have been verified. None contains Mr. Kessler's name; authorship of these provisions is his own attribution.
Proposed revision of 42 CFR § 422.153 and proposed amendments to §§ 480.101(b), 480.130, 480.139(a)(1), and 480.140. These were the only regulatory provisions proposed anywhere in the document.
Revised 42 CFR § 422.153; amended §§ 480.101(b), 480.130, 480.139(a)(1), and 480.140(a); and added § 480.144, Access to QIO Data and Information. These were the only regulatory provisions in the entire rule.
Proposed codification of the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program procedural requirements at 42 CFR § 412.140.
Added 42 CFR § 412.140, converting requirements that had been republished annually in preamble into codified regulatory text. The section remains operative and has been amended, never replaced, ten times through 90 FR 37201.
Proposed addition of Subpart I to 42 CFR Part 412, including §§ 412.150 and 412.160, and proposed amendments to § 412.140.
Added 42 CFR § 412.1(a)(6) and § 412.150(b), the first codified text establishing the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program, both co-authored with a colleague; amended § 412.140; and amended Part 476 (§§ 476.1, 476.78, and 476.90).
Amended 42 CFR § 405.902 to add four definitions, and added § 405.903 (Prepayment review), § 405.929 (Post-payment review), and § 405.930 (Failure to respond to an additional documentation request).
Other work products
Not Federal Register documents.
- Revision of CMS's Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Quality Standards, effective January 9, 2018.
- CMS Internet Only Manual instructions, including suppression of Home Health Requests for Anticipated Payment.
- The Medicare Fee-for-Service DMEPOS Coverage and Education Coordinator Demonstration and its accompanying Statement of Objectives.
- A Sources Sought Notice to procure an advanced technology medical record review tool, together with the evaluation of all responses. “Advanced technology” is the notice's own term.
- Chapter 5, Quality of Care Reviews, Quality Improvement Organization Manual, CMS Pub. 100-10 (rewrite).
- A manual on the recovery of Medicaid improper payments.
- CMS's first Reasonable Accommodation Policy.
- Legislative proposals, including beneficiary liability provisions.