[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 208 (Wednesday, October 28, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57698-57699]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-28839]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Care Financing Administration
[HCFA-1035-CN]
RIN 0938-AI13


Medicare Program; Schedules of Per-Visit and Per-Beneficiary 
Limitations on Home Health Agency Costs for Cost Reporting Periods 
Beginning on or After October 1, 1998; Correction

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

ACTION: Correction of notice with comment period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In the August 11, 1998 issue of the Federal Register (63 FR 
42912), we published a notice with comment period setting forth revised 
schedules of limitations on home health agency costs that may be paid 
under the Medicare program for cost reporting periods beginning on or 
after October 1, 1998. This document corrects technical and 
typographical errors made in that document.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cathy Johnson, (410) 786-5241.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In the August 11, 1998 notice, we announced the limitations for 
home health agencies for cost reporting periods beginning on or after 
October 1, 1998, including the per-visit limitations. In publishing 
table 3A, Type of Visits, setting forth the per-visit limitations by 
type, we inadvertently transposed the MSA and non-MSA cost limit 
numbers. This document corrects that error. The inadvertent 
transposition of these cost limits resulted in the need to correct the 
examples and tables that rely on the limits. This document corrects the 
examples and tables and corrects other technical and typographical 
errors. Therefore, we are making the following corrections:

Correction of Errors

    1. On page 42923, in column 3, the last six lines are corrected to 
read as follows:
    a. Urban skilled nursing per-visit labor portion

$74.13 x 1.0145693 = $75.21

b. Urban skilled nursing per-visit nonlabor portion

$20.84 x 1.0145693 = $21.14

    2. On page 42924, in the chart entitled ``Computation of Revised 
Per-visit for Occupational Therapy,'' in line 1,
`` $123.05'' is corrected to read ``$108.10,'' and, in line 3, 
``$123.94'' is corrected to read ``$108.88.''
    3. On page 42924, in the chart entitled ``Computation of Revised 
Per-Beneficiary Limitations for an HHA With a 1994 Base Period'', in 
the last line, ``$5,521.72'' is corrected to read ``5,421.72''.
    4. On page 42925, the chart entitled ``Determining the Aggregate 
Per-Visit Limitation'' is corrected in its entirety to read as follows:

             Determining The Aggregate Per-Visit Limitation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Number of    Per-visit
        Area/type of visit            visits    limit (\1\)  Total limit
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dallas-MSA:
    Skilled nursing..............       11,550        94.93    1,096,442
    Physical therapy.............        4,300       107.21      461,003
    Home health aide.............        8,900        43.83      389,998
Rural Texas:
    Skilled nursing..............        5,000        87.18      435,900
    Physical therapy.............        2,300        97.68      224,664
    Home health aide.............        4,300        36.41      156,563
                                  --------------------------------------
        Aggregate limitation.....  ...........  ...........   2,764,570
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(\1\) The per-visit has been adjusted by the appropriate wage-index and
  the budget neutrality adjustment factor of 1.03.


[[Page 57699]]

    5. On page 42925 Table 3A is corrected in its entirety to read as 
follows:

             Table 3A.--Per-Visit Limitations Type of Visit
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Per-visit      Labor       Nonlabor
                                    limitation    portion      portion
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MSA (NECMA) location:
Skilled nursing care.............      $ 94.97       $74.13       $20.84
Physical therapy.................       107.26        83.56        23.70
Speech therapy...................       107.97        83.99        23.98
Occupational therapy.............       108.15        84.05        24.10
Medical social services..........       130.69       101.38        29.31
Home health aide.................        43.84        34.21         9.63
NonMSA location:
Skilled nursing care.............       108.17        88.44        19.73
Physical therapy.................       121.14        98.82        22.32
Speech therapy...................       126.52       103.01        23.51
Occupational therapy.............       123.10        99.81        23.29
Medical social services..........       167.78       136.78        31.00
Home health aide.................        45.16        36.88         8.28
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    6. On page 42926, in Table 3A, under the heading ``Location'' the 
following corrections are made:
    a. In column 1, line 3, ``County of Hawaii'' is corrected to read 
``County of Honolulu''.
    b. In column 2, line 5, ``1.2225'' is corrected to read ``1.225''.
    7. On page 42935, in the chart entitled ``Impact of the IPS HHA 
Limits, Effective 10/1/98'', the number ``12.3'' is moved from the 
first column to the last column of the previous line.

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

    Dated: October 9, 1998.
Michael W. Carleton,
Acting Deputy Assistant for Information Resources Management.
[FR Doc. 98-28839 Filed 10-27-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P