Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 1 / Thursday, January 2, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 63 

cause to waive the notice and comment 

and effective date requirements. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program No. 93.778, Medical Assistance 

Program) 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program No. 93.773, Medicare—Hospital 

Insurance; and Program No. 93.774, 

Medicare—Supplementary Medical 

Insurance Program) 

Dated: December 26, 2013. 

Oliver Potts, 

Deputy Executive Secretary to the 

Department, Department of Health and 

Human Services. 

[FR Doc. 2013–31432 Filed 12–31–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

42 CFR Parts 413 and 424 

[CMS–1446–CN2] 

RIN 0938–AR65 

Medicare Program; Prospective 

Payment System and Consolidated 

Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities for 

FY 2014; Correction 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS. 

ACTION: Final rule; correction. 

SUMMARY: This document corrects a 

technical error that appeared in the final 

rule published in the August 6, 2013 

Federal Register entitled ‘‘Medicare 

Program; Prospective Payment System 

and Consolidated Billing for Skilled 

Nursing Facilities for FY 2014.’’ 

DATES: Effective Date: This correction is 

effective January 2, 2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

Kane, (410) 786–0557. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

On October 3, 2013, we published a 

correction notice (FR Doc. 2013–24080, 

78 FR 61202) to correct a number of 

technical errors that appeared in the FY 

2014 Skilled Nursing Facility 

Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS) 

final rule on August 6, 2013 (FR Doc. 

2013–18776, 78 FR 47936). In this 

notice, we are correcting an additional 

technical error in the wage index values. 

Specifically, we have determined that in 

the process of developing the most 

recent hospital wage index, the wage 

data of a hospital in Core-Based 

Statistical Area (CBSA) 44140, 

Springfield, MA, was inadvertently 

included in that CBSA, though it should 

not have been included in the wage 

index data. Accordingly, we are 

removing the wage data for this provider 

from CBSA 44140. In Table A, ‘‘FY 2014 

Wage Index for Urban Areas Based on 

CBSA Labor Market Areas,’’ we are 

revising the wage index value for CBSA 

44140 Springfield, MA from 1.0378 to 

the corrected value of 1.0383, in order 

to reflect the removal of the hospital in 

question from the wage data for that 

CBSA. As we are revising the entry for 

only that one particular CBSA, we are 

not republishing the lengthy Table A in 

its entirety in this notice. We note that 

the corrected version of this table is 

available online on the SNF PPS Web 

site, at http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/

Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/

SNFPPS/WageIndex.html. 

In a correction notice for inpatient 

prospective payment system (IPPS) 

hospitals and long-term care hospitals 

(LTCHs) that is being published 

concurrently in this issue of the Federal 

Register (Medicare Program; Hospital 

Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems 

for Acute Care Hospitals and the LongTerm Care Hospital Prospective 

Payment System and Fiscal Year 2014 

Rates; Quality Reporting Requirements 

for Specific Providers; Hospital 

Conditions of Participation; Payment 

Policies Related to Patient Status; 

Corrections (CMS–1599 & 1455–CN3)), 

we are making a similar midyear 

correction to the IPPS hospital wage 

index to reflect the removal of the wage 

index data of the hospital referenced 

above. As discussed in that correction 

notice, this IPPS wage index correction 

is being made prospectively. Since the 

implementation of the SNF PPS, we 

have used the pre-floor, pre-reclassified, 

no occupational mix IPPS hospital wage 

data in developing a wage index to be 

applied to SNFs. Thus, this correction 

will also apply prospectively to the SNF 

PPS wage index to conform the 

published SNF PPS wage index values 

to the corresponding, prospectively 

revised IPPS wage index values. We 

note that a more detailed discussion of 

the correction to the IPPS hospital wage 

index and its effective date is included 

in CMS–1599 & 1455–CN3 referenced 

above. 

The correction in this document 

appears below in the ‘‘Correction of 

Errors’’ section. The provisions in this 

correction notice are effective as of 

January 2, 2014. 

II. Summary of Errors 

The wage data of a hospital in CBSA 

44140, Springfield, MA, was 

inadvertently included in that CBSA, 

though it should not have been included 

in the wage index data. In Table A, ‘‘FY 

2014 Wage Index for Urban Areas Based 

on CBSA Labor Market Areas,’’ we are 

revising the wage index value for CBSA 

44140 Springfield, MA from 1.0378 to 

the corrected value of 1.0383, in order 

to reflect the removal of the hospital in 

question from the wage data for that 

CBSA. 

III. Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking 

and Delayed Effective Date 

We ordinarily publish a notice of 

proposed rulemaking in the Federal 

Register to provide a period for public 

comment before the provisions of a rule 

take effect in accordance with section 

553(b) of the Administrative Procedure 

Act (APA) (5 U.S.C. 553(b)). However, 

we can waive this notice and comment 

procedure if the Secretary finds, for 

good cause, that the notice and 

comment process is impracticable, 

unnecessary, or contrary to the public 

interest, and incorporates a statement of 

the finding and the reasons therefor in 

the notice. 

Section 553(d) of the APA ordinarily 

requires a 30-day delay in effective date 

of final rules after the date of their 

publication in the Federal Register. 

This 30-day delay in effective date can 

be waived, however, if an agency finds 

for good cause that the delay is 

impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary 

to the public interest, and the agency 

incorporates a statement of the findings 

and its reasons in the rule issued. 

In our view, this correcting document 

does not constitute a rule that would be 

subject to the APA notice and comment 

or delayed effective date requirements. 

This correcting document simply 

corrects a single technical error in Table 

A of the FY 2014 SNF PPS final rule, 

and does not make substantive changes 

to the policies or payment 

methodologies that were adopted in the 

final rule. As a result, this correcting 

document is intended to ensure that the 

information set forth in Table A of the 

FY 2014 SNF PPS final rule (and posted 

on the CMS Web site) accurately reflects 

the policies adopted in that final rule. 

In addition, even if this correcting 

document were a rule to which the 

notice and comment and delayed 

effective date requirements applied, we 

find that there is good cause to waive 

such requirements. Undertaking further 

notice and comment procedures to 

incorporate the correction in this 

document into the final rule or delaying 

the effective date would be contrary to 

the public interest, because it is in the 

public’s interest for providers to receive 

appropriate SNF PPS payments in as 

timely a manner as possible and to 

ensure that the FY 2014 SNF PPS final 

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64 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 1 / Thursday, January 2, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

rule accurately reflects our payment 

methodologies, payment rates, and 

policies. Furthermore, such procedures 

would be unnecessary, as we are not 

altering our payment methodologies or 

policies, but rather, are simply 

implementing correctly the payment 

methodologies and policies that we 

previously proposed, received comment 

on, and subsequently finalized. This 

correction document is intended solely 

to ensure that the FY 2014 SNF PPS 

final rule accurately reflects these 

payment methodologies and policies. 

Therefore, we find good cause to waive 

notice and comment procedures, as well 

as the 30-day delay in effective date. 

IV. Correction of Errors 

In FR Doc. 2013–18776 (78 FR 47936), 

make the following correction: 

A. Correction to the Addendum 

1. On page 47976, in column 3 of 

Table A, the entry ‘‘1.0378’’ for CBSA 

44140 Springfield, MA is corrected to 

read ‘‘1.0383’’. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program No. 93.773, Medicare—Hospital 

Insurance; and Program No. 93.774, 

Medicare—Supplementary Medical 

Insurance Program) 

Dated: December 23, 2013. 

Oliver Potts, 

Deputy Executive Secretary to the 

Department, Department of Health and 

Human Services. 

[FR Doc. 2013–31435 Filed 12–31–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

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