[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 42 (Friday, March 2, 2001)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 13020-13021]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-5108]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Care Financing Administration

42 CFR Parts 410, 412, 413, and 485

[HCFA-1118-CN2]
RIN 0938-AK09


Medicare Program; Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective 
Payment Systems and Fiscal Year 2001 Rates; Midyear Corrections 
Effective

December 1, 2000.
AGENCY: Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), HHS.

ACTION: Final rule; correction notice.

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SUMMARY: In the August 1, 2000 issue of the Federal Register (65 FR 
47054), we published a final rule that revised the Medicare hospital 
inpatient prospective payment systems for operating costs and capital-
related costs to implement necessary changes arising from our 
continuing experience with the system. This document corrects wage 
index and related data errors identified after October 1, 2000.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 1, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anne Tayloe, (410) 786-4546.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document corrects a limited number of 
errors in the August 1, 2000 final rule (65 FR 47054) identified after 
October 1, 2000. We are making these changes in accordance with 42 CFR 
412.63(x)(2)(i), which specifies that we may make midyear corrections 
to the wage index for an area only if a hospital can show that--
    <bullet> The intermediary or HCFA made an error in tabulating the 
hospital's data; and
    <bullet> The hospital could not have known about the error or did 
not have the opportunity to correct the error, before the beginning of 
the Federal fiscal year (in this case before the beginning of FY 2001). 
In addition, Sec. 412.63(x)(2)(ii) specifies that midyear corrections 
are effective prospectively from the date that the change is made to 
the wage index. On December 1, 2000, we issued a program memorandum 
entitled ``Corrections to the Calculation of Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 
2001 Inpatient Payment Amounts'' that made midyear corrections to the 
wage index (HCFA Pub. 60 A). This program memorandum included the 
midyear corrections presented in this notice; therefore, the effective 
date is the same as that of the program memorandum (December 1, 2000). 
The midyear corrections are as follows:
    1. On page 47138, in Table 3C--Hospital Case Mix Indexes for 
Discharges Occurring in Federal Fiscal Year 1999; Hospital Average 
Hourly Wages for Federal Fiscal Year 2001 Wage Index, the average 
hourly wage for the specified provider is corrected to read as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Average
                     Provider                        Case mix    hourly
                                                      index       wage
------------------------------------------------------------------------
260027............................................     1.6845      21.30
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    2. On pages 47149 through 47156, in Table 4A--Wage Index and 
Capital Geographic Adjustment Factor (GAF) for Urban Areas, the wage 
indexes and GAFs for the specified urban areas are corrected to read as 
follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                Urban area
                          (constituent counties)  Wage index      GAF
------------------------------------------------------------------------
0870....................  Benton Harbor, MI \2\.      0.9003      0.9306
3080....................  Green Bay, WI.........      0.9339      0.9542
3640....................  Jersey City, NJ.......      1.1318      1.0885
3660....................  Johnson City-Kingsport-     0.8318      0.8815
                           Bristol, TN-VA.
3760....................  Kansas City, KS-MO\1\.      0.9527      0.9674
5640....................  Newark, NJ\1\.........      1.0890      1.0601

[[Page 13021]]

 
7485....................  Santa Cruz-                 1.4040      1.2616
                           Watsonville, CA.
7600....................  Seattle-Bellevue-           1.1018      1.0686 
                           Everett, WA\1\.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Large Urban Area.
\2\ Hospitals geographically located in the area are assigned the
  statewide rural wage index for FY 2001.

    3. On page 47156, in Table 4B--Wage Index and Capital Geographic 
Adjustment Factor (GAF) for Rural Areas, the wage indexes and GAFs for 
the specified nonurban are corrected to read as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       Wage
                   Nonurban area                      index       GAF
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michigan..........................................     0.9003     0.9306
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    4. On page 47156 through 47157, in Table 4C--Wage Index and Capital 
Geographic Adjustment Factor (GAF) for Hospitals that are Reclassified, 
the wage indexes and GAFs for the specified areas are added or 
corrected to read as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       Wage
               Area reclassified to                   index       GAF
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benton Harbor, MI.................................     0.9003     0.9306
Green Bay, WI.....................................     0.9339     0.9542
Jackson, MS.......................................     0.8679     0.9075
Jersey City, NJ \1\...............................  .........  .........
Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA.............     0.8318     0.8815
Kansas City, KS-MO................................     0.9527     0.9674
Las Cruces, NM\1\.................................  .........  .........
Salinas, CA \1\...................................  .........  .........
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA........................     1.3861     1.2505
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA......................     1.1018     1.0686
Sioux City, IA-NE \1\.............................  .........  .........
Sioux Falls, SD...................................     0.8790     0.9155
Rural Michigan....................................     0.9003    0.9306
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ No hospitals are reclassified to the area.

    5. On page 47158, in Table 4D--Average Hourly Wage for Urban Areas, 
the hourly wage for the specified urban area is corrected to read as 
follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Average
                         Urban area                             hourly
                                                                 wage
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kansas City, KS-MO.........................................      20.7416
------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program No. 93.773 
Medicare--Hospital Insurance)


    Dated: February 22, 2001.
William E. Clark,
Acting, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Resource Management.
[FR Doc. 01-5108 Filed 3-1-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P