[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 61 (Tuesday, March 30, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 16531]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-6978]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary


TRICARE; Implementation of the TRICARE Home Health Agency 
Prospective Payment System

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Defense.

ACTION: Notice of implementation of Home Health Agency Prospective 
Payment System.

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SUMMARY: This notice is to advise interested parties of the phased-in 
implementation of the Home Health Agency Prospective Payment System 
(HHA PPS). Public notification of HHA PPS implementation was required 
under a previous interim final rule (67 FR 40597) published in the 
Federal Register on June 13, 2002, if TRICARE was unable to effectively 
and efficiently implement the HHA PPS within the specified statutory 
effective date of August 12, 2002.
    The HHA PPS will be implemented with the start health care delivery 
date of the following regional groupings of states under each of the 
TRICARE Next Generation of Contracts (T-Nex); e.g., as of June 1, 2004, 
home health agency services in the state of Washington will be 
processed and paid under the HHA PPS as part of the West T-Nex regional 
contract.

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         T-Nex region/contractor                       States                     Start healthcare delivery
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North (Health Net Federal Services,       Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,      July 1, 2004.
 Inc.).                                    Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, West
                                           Virginia, Virginia (except the
                                           Northern Virginia/National
                                           Capital Area), North Carolina,
                                           Eastern Iowa, Rock Island, IL,
                                           Fort Campbell catchment area of
                                           Tennessee.
                                          Connecticut, Delaware, District   September 1, 2004.
                                           of Columbia, Maine, Maryland,
                                           Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
                                           New Jersey, New York,
                                           Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
                                           Vermont, Northern Virginia,
                                           West Virginia (portion).
South (Humana Military Healthcare         Oklahoma, Arkansas and major      November 1, 2004.
 Services).                                portions of Texas and Louisiana.
                                          Alabama, Florida, Georgia,        August 1, 2004.
                                           Mississippi, Eastern Louisiana,
                                           South Carolina, Tennessee,
                                           small area of Arkansas, New
                                           Orleans area.
West (TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp.)  Washington, Oregon, Northern      June 1, 2004.
                                           Idaho.
                                          California, Hawaii, Alaska......  July 1, 2004.
                                          Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa,   October 1, 2004.
                                           Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri,
                                           Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
                                           Mexico, North Dakota, South
                                           Dakota, western portion of
                                           Texas, Wyoming.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Bennett, Medical Benefits and 
Reimbursement Systems, TRICARE Management Activity, telephone (303) 
676-3494.

    Dated: March 23, 2004.
L.M. Bynum,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison, Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 04-6978 Filed 3-29-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-06-M