68494 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 191 / Wednesday, October 4, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

42 CFR Part 412 

[CMS–1781–CN] 

RIN 0938–AV04 

Medicare Program; Inpatient 

Rehabilitation Facility Prospective 

Payment System for Federal Fiscal 

Year 2024 and Updates to the IRF 

Quality Reporting Program; Correction 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS), Department 

of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Final rule; correction. 

SUMMARY: This document corrects 

technical and typographical errors in 

the final rule that appeared in the 

August 2, 2023 Federal Register entitled 

‘‘Medicare Program; Inpatient 

Rehabilitation Facility Prospective 

Payment System for Federal Fiscal Year 

2024 and Updates to the IRF Quality 

Reporting Program’’ (referred to 

hereafter as the ‘‘FY 2024 IRF final 

rule’’). The effective date of the FY 2024 

IRF final rule is October 1, 2023. 

DATES: This document is effective 

October 1, 2023. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Heidi Oumarou, (410) 786–7942 and 

Bridget Dickensheets, (410) 786–8670, 

for the percentage of hospital 

compensation hours correction. 

Ariel Cress, (410) 786–8571, for the 

IRF quality reporting program 

corrections. 

Kia Burwell, (410) 786–7816 and 

Catie Cooksey, (410) 786–0179 for wage 

index corrections. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

In FR Doc. 2023–16050 of August 2, 

2023, the FY 2024 IRF final rule (88 FR 

50956), there were technical and 

typographical errors that are identified 

and corrected in this correcting 

document. These corrections are 

effective as if they had been included in 

the FY 2024 IRF final rule. Accordingly, 

the corrections are effective October 1, 

2023. 

II. Summary of Errors 

A. Summary of Errors in the Preamble 

On page 50978, we made a 

typographical error in the estimated 

percentage that hospital workers’ hours 

represent of total compensation hours. 

On pages 51017, 51020, and 51025 we 

inadvertently made technical errors in 

measure names. 

On page 51040, we made a 

typographical error in identifying the 

calendar year. 

On page 51048, we made a technical 

error in the Total Percent Change for the 

Rural South Atlantic region in Table 21. 

B. Summary of Errors and Corrections 

Posted on the CMS Website for the IRF 

Wage Index 

As discussed in the FY 2024 IRF PPS 

final rule (88 FR 50988 through 50989), 

in developing the wage index to be 

applied to IRFs under the IRF PPS, we 

use the updated, pre-reclassified, prerural floor hospital inpatient PPS (IPPS) 

wage data, exclusive of the occupational 

mix adjustment. For FY 2024, the 

updated, unadjusted, pre-reclassified, 

pre-rural floor IPPS wage data used 

under the IRF PPS are for cost reporting 

periods beginning on or after October 1, 

2019, and before October 1, 2020 (FY 

2020 cost report data), as discussed in 

the final rule entitled ‘‘Medicare 

Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective 

Payment Systems for Acute Care 

Hospitals and the Long-Term Care 

Hospital Prospective Payment System 

and Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 

2024 Rates; Quality Programs and 

Medicare Promoting Interoperability 

Program Requirements for Eligible 

Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals; 

Rural Emergency Hospital and 

Physician-Owned Hospital 

Requirements; and Provider and 

Supplier Disclosure of Ownership; and 

Medicare Disproportionate Share 

Hospital (DSH) Payments: Counting 

Certain Days Associated with Section 

1115 Demonstrations in the Medicaid 

Fraction’’ (88 FR 58640) (hereinafter 

referred to as the FY 2024 IPPS final 

rule). In calculating the wage index 

under the FY 2024 IPPS final rule, we 

made an inadvertent error related to the 

calculation of the wage index. This error 

is identified, discussed, and corrected in 

the document entitled ‘‘Medicare 

Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective 

Payment Systems for Acute Care 

Hospitals and the Long-Term Care 

Hospital Prospective Payment System 

and Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 

2024 Rates; Quality Programs and 

Medicare Promoting Interoperability 

Program Requirements for Eligible 

Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals; 

Rural Emergency Hospital and 

Physician-Owned Hospital 

Requirements; and Provider and 

Supplier Disclosure of Ownership; and 

Medicare Disproportionate Share 

Hospital (DSH) Payments: Counting 

Certain Days Associated with Section 

1115 Demonstrations in the Medicaid 

Fraction; Correction,’’ published 

elsewhere in this issue of the Federal 

Register. The error that affects the 

unadjusted, pre-reclassified, pre-rural 

floor IPPS wage data and thereby affects 

the IRF PPS wage data was an error in 

the wage data collected from the 

Medicare cost reports of one hospital 

(CMS Certification Number (CCN) 

340064—Core-Based Statistical Area 

(CBSA) 34 rural North Carolina). Given 

this error, we are republishing the wage 

indexes in Tables A and B accordingly 

on the CMS website at https://

www.cms.gov/medicare/medicare-feefor-service-payment/ 

inpatientrehabfacpps. 

Thus, the use of the corrected wage 

data for the one hospital in CBSA 34 

required the recalculation of the final 

FY 2024 IRF PPS wage indexes. 

Additionally, as discussed in the FY 

2024 IRF PPS final rule adjustments or 

updates to the IRF wage index made 

under section 1886(j)(6) of the Social 

Security Act must be made in a budgetneutral manner. Due to the recalculation 

and subsequent revision of the final FY 

2024 IRF PPS wage indexes, it was 

necessary to recalculate the FY 2024 IRF 

PPS wage index budget neutrality factor 

as well with no subsequent changes 

noted. Due to the recalculated wage 

indexes, we recalculated the impact 

analysis provided in Table 21 of the FY 

2024 IRF PPS final rule (88 FR 51047 

through 51049). The correction to this 

error is found in section IV. of this 

document. 

We are correcting the wage index in 

Table B setting forth the wage indexes 

for rural areas based on CBSA labor 

market areas (Table B), which is 

available exclusively on the CMS 

website at https://www.cms.gov/ 

medicare/medicare-fee-for-servicepayment/inpatientrehabfacpps. Table B 

has been updated to reflect the error 

discussed in this correcting document, 

and we are republishing the wage 

indexes in Tables A and B accordingly 

on the CMS website at https://

www.cms.gov/medicare/medicare-feefor-service-payment/ 

inpatientrehabfacpps. 

III. Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking 

Under section 553(b) of the 

Administrative Procedure Act (the APA) 

(5 U.S.C. 553(b)), the agency is required 

to publish a notice of proposed 

rulemaking in the Federal Register 

before the provisions of a rule take 

effect. Similarly, section 1871(b)(1) of 

the Social Security Act (the Act) 

requires the Secretary to provide for 

notice of the proposed rule in the 

Federal Register and provide a period of 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 191 / Wednesday, October 4, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 68495 

not less than 60 days for public 

comment. In addition, section 553(d) of 

the APA and section 1871(e)(1)(B)(i) of 

the Act mandate a 30-day delay in 

effective date after issuance or 

publication of a rule. Sections 553(b)(B) 

and 553(d)(3) of the APA provide for 

exceptions from the APA notice and 

comment, and delay in effective date 

requirements; in cases in which these 

exceptions apply, sections 1871(b)(2)(C) 

and 1871(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act provide 

exceptions from the notice and 60-day 

comment period and delay in effective 

date requirements of the Act as well. 

Section 553(b)(B) of the APA and 

section 1871(b)(2)(C) of the Act 

authorize an agency to dispense with 

normal notice and comment rulemaking 

procedures for good cause if the agency 

makes a finding that the notice and 

comment process is impracticable, 

unnecessary, or contrary to the public 

interest, and includes a statement of the 

finding and the reasons for it in the rule. 

In addition, section 553(d)(3) of the 

APA and section 1871(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the 

Act allow the agency to avoid the 30- 

day delay in effective date where the 

agency finds that such delay is contrary 

to the public interest and the agency 

includes in the rule a statement of the 

finding and the reasons for it. 

In our view, this correcting document 

does not constitute a rulemaking that 

would be subject to these requirements. 

This document merely corrects 

technical errors in the FY 2024 IRF final 

rule. The corrections contained in this 

document are consistent with, and do 

not make substantive changes to, the 

policies and payment methodologies 

that were proposed, subject to notice 

and comment procedures, and adopted 

in the FY 2024 IRF final rule. As a 

result, the corrections made through this 

correcting document are intended to 

resolve inadvertent errors so that the 

rule accurately reflects the policies 

adopted in the final rule. Even if this 

were a rulemaking 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 corrections in this 

document into the FY 2024 IRF final 

rule or delaying the effective date of the 

corrections would be contrary to the 

public interest because it is in the 

public interest to ensure that the rule 

accurately reflects our policies as of the 

date they take effect. Further, such 

procedures would be unnecessary 

because we are not making any 

substantive revisions to the final rule, 

but rather, we are simply correcting the 

Federal Register document to reflect the 

policies that we previously proposed, 

received public comment on, and 

subsequently finalized in the final rule. 

For these reasons, we believe there is 

good cause to waive the requirements 

for notice and comment and delay in 

effective date. 

IV. Correction of Errors in the Preamble 

In FR Doc. 2023–16050 of August 2, 

2023 (88 FR 50956), make the following 

corrections: 

1. On page 50978, second column, last 

full paragraph, line 28, the percentage 

that reads ‘‘97 percent’’ is corrected to 

read ‘‘96 percent’’. 

2. On page 51017, second column, 

first full paragraph: 

a. Line 29, the measure name that 

reads ‘‘Discharge in Mobility Score’’ is 

corrected to read ‘‘Discharge Mobility 

Score’’. 

b. Line 30, the measure name that 

reads ‘‘Discharge in Self-Care Score’’ is 

corrected to read ‘‘Discharge Self-Care 

Score’’. 

3. On page 51020, third column, 

second full paragraph: 

a. Lines 25 and 26, the measure name 

that reads ‘‘Discharge in Mobility Score’’ 

is corrected to read ‘‘Discharge Mobility 

Score’’. 

b. Line 26, the measure name that 

reads ‘‘Discharge in Self-Care Score’’ is 

corrected to read ‘‘Discharge Self-Care 

Score’’. 

4. On page 51025, second column, 

first partial paragraph: 

a. Lines 3 and 4, the measure name 

that reads ‘‘Discharge in Mobility Score’’ 

is corrected to read ‘‘Discharge Mobility 

Score’’. 

b. Line 14, the measure name that 

reads ‘‘Discharge in Mobility Score’’ is 

corrected to read ‘‘Discharge Mobility 

Score’’. 

5. On page 51040, third column, 

second to last full paragraph, line 9, the 

public display date of the Transfer of 

Health (TOH) Information to the 

Provider and TOH Information to the 

Patient measure that reads ‘‘September 

2025’’ is corrected to read ‘‘September 

2024’’. 

6. On page 51048, Table 21 ‘‘titled 

‘‘IRF Impact for FY 2024 (Columns 4 

through 7 in percentage)’’, row 29, 

column 7, the Total Percent change that 

reads ‘‘3.9’’ is corrected to read ‘‘4.0’’. 

Wilma Robinson, 

Deputy Executive Secretary, Department of 

Health and Human Services. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22051 Filed 9–29–23; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

[Docket No. 230427–0115; RTID 0648– 

XD439] 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish 

Resources of the Gulf of Mexico; 2023 

Recreational Harvest Closure for Gag 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; closure. 

SUMMARY: NMFS implements an 

accountability measure (AM) for the 

recreational harvest of gag in the 

exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the 

Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) for the 2023 

fishing year. NMFS has projected that 

the 2023 recreational annual catch limit 

(ACL) for gag will be reached by October 

19, 2023. Therefore, NMFS closes the 

recreational sector for gag to protect the 

gag resource. 

DATES: This temporary rule is effective 

from 12:01 a.m. local time on October 

19, 2023, through December 31, 2023. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dan 

Luers, NMFS Southeast Regional Office, 

telephone: 727–551–5719, email: 

daniel.luers@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

manages the Gulf reef fish fishery and 

gag under the Fishery Management Plan 

for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf 

of Mexico (FMP). The FMP was 

prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery 

Management Council (Council) and is 

implemented by NMFS under the 

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) through 

regulations at 50 CFR part 622. All 

weights described in this temporary rule 

are in gutted weight. 

On May 3, 2023, NMFS implemented 

a final temporary rule for gag in the Gulf 

EEZ (88 FR 27701, May 3, 2023). That 

2023 temporary rule resulted from a 

2021 gag stock assessment and 

determination that the stock is 

overfished and is undergoing 

overfishing, and a subsequent request 

from the Council for NMFS to 

implement interim measures gag during 

the 2023 fishing year. The purpose of 

the requested interim measures and the 

2023 temporary rule was to reduce 

overfishing of gag while long-term 

management measures are developed in 

Amendment 56 to the FMP. The 


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