Health and Social Care Act 2012

118 Consultation on proposals for the national tariff

(1) Before publishing the national tariff, Monitor must send a notice to—

(a) each clinical commissioning group,

(b) each relevant provider, and

(c) such other persons as it considers appropriate.

(2) Monitor must also publish the notice.

(3) The notice must specify—

(a) the health care services which Monitor proposes to specify in the national tariff,

(b) the method or methods it proposes to use for determining the national prices of those services,

(c) the prices, determined in each case by using the applicable method specified under paragraph (b), that Monitor proposes as the national prices of those services, and

(d) the method it proposes to use for deciding whether to approve an agreement under section 124 and for determining an application under section 125 (local modifications of national prices).

(4) The notice may specify such rules as Monitor proposes to provide for in the national tariff under which the commissioner of a health care service and a provider of the service would be entitled to vary—

(a) the specification of the service in the national tariff, or

(b) the national price of the service.

(5) The notice may also specify—

(a) such variations (by reference to circumstances in which a service is provided or other factors relevant to its provision) as Monitor proposes to specify to the prices that it proposes as the national prices,

(b) such rules as Monitor proposes to provide for in the national tariff for determining the price payable for the provision for the purposes of the NHS of health care services not specified for the purposes of subsection (3)(a), and

(c) such rules as Monitor proposes to provide for in the national tariff for determining, where a health care service is specified in more than one way for the purposes of subsection (3)(a) or in more than one way in rules specified for the purposes of paragraph (b), which specification of the service is to apply in any particular case or cases of any particular description.

(6) The notice may include such guidance as Monitor proposes to provide for in the national tariff as to—

(a) the application of the method specified for the purposes of subsection (3)(d);

(b) the application of rules specified for the purposes of subsection (4) or (5)(b) or (c);

(c) the application of variations specified for the purposes of subsection (5)(a).

(7) The health care services specified for the purposes of subsection (3)(a) are only such services as the National Health Service Commissioning Board considers should be so specified and—

(a) as the Board and Monitor agree will be so specified, or

(b) in default of agreement, as are determined by arbitration as being services that will be so specified.

(8) A method specified for the purposes of subsection (3)(b) or (d) is only such method, and such guidance on the application of the method specified for the purposes of subsection (3)(d) as is included for the purposes of subsection (6) is only such guidance, as Monitor considers should be so specified and included and—

(a) as Monitor and the Board agree will be so specified and included, or

(b) in default of agreement, as is determined by arbitration as being the method that will be so specified and the guidance that will be so included.

(9) The prices specified for the purposes of subsection (3)(c) are only such prices as Monitor considers should be so specified and—

(a) as Monitor and the Board agree will be so specified, or

(b) in default of agreement, as are determined by arbitration as being the prices that will be so specified.

(10) Such variations as are specified for the purposes of subsection (5)(a), and such guidance on the application of those variations as is included for the purposes of subsection (6), are only such variations and such guidance as Monitor considers should be so specified and included and—

(a) as Monitor and the Board agree will be so specified and included, or

(b) in default of agreement, as are determined by arbitration as being the variations that will be so specified and the guidance that will be so included.

(11) Such rules as are specified for the purposes of subsection (4) or (5)(c), and such guidance on those rules as is included for the purposes of subsection (6), are only such rules and such guidance as the National Health Service Commissioning Board considers should be so specified and included and—

(a) as the Board and Monitor agree will be so specified and included, or

(b) in default of agreement, as are determined by arbitration as being the rules that will be so specified and the guidance that will be so included.

(12) Such rules as are specified for the purposes of subsection (5)(b), and such guidance on those rules as is included for the purposes of subsection (6), are only such rules and such guidance as Monitor considers should be so specified and included and—

(a) as Monitor and the Board agree will be so specified and included, or

(b) in default of agreement, as are determined by arbitration as being the rules that will be so specified and the guidance that will be so included.

(13) A notice under this section must specify when the consultation period in relation to the proposals ends; and for that purpose, the consultation period is the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which the notice is published under subsection (2).

(14) In this section, a “relevant provider” is—

(a) a licence holder, or

(b) such other person, of such description as may be prescribed, as provides health care services for the purposes of the NHS.