Medicare Program; Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update for Calendar Year 2006
medicare · Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services · Rule · Published 2005-11-09 · Effective 2006-01-01 · 70 FR 68132
Document
Document number
05-22084
Federal Register citation
70 FR 68132
CFR reference
42 CFR 484
Type
Rule
Action
Final rule.
Category
medicare
Sub-agency
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Publication date
2005-11-09
Effective date
2006-01-01
HHS docket
CMS-1301-F
Abstract
This final rule sets forth an update to the 60-day national episode rates and the national per-visit amounts under the Medicare prospective payment system for home health agencies. This final rule is the first update of the home health prospective payment system (HH PPS) rates that uses the revised area labor market Metropolitan Statistical Area designations for calendar year 2006. In implementing the new area labor market designations, we are allowing for a one-year transition period. This transition consists of a blend of 50 percent of the new area labor market designations' wage index and 50 percent of the previous area labor market designations' wage index. In addition, we are revising the fixed dollar loss ratio, which is used in the calculation of outlier payments.