[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 56 (Friday, March 23, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13798-13799]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-5290]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

[CMS-1488-CN3]
RIN 0938-A012


Medicare Program; Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective 
Payment Systems and Fiscal Year 2007 Rates; Final Fiscal Year 2007 Wage 
Indices and Payment Rates After Application of Revised Occupational Mix 
Adjustment to the Wage Index; Corrections

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS.

ACTION: Correction of notice.

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SUMMARY: This document corrects wage index values and a relative 
weighting factor error that appeared in the correction notice published 
in the Federal Register on January 5, 2007 entitled ``Medicare Program; 
Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems and 
Fiscal Year 2007 Rates; Final Fiscal Year 2007 Wage Indices and Payment 
Rates After Application of Revised Occupational Mix Adjustment to Wage 
Index; Corrections''.

DATES: Effective Dates. The corrections to the wage index values listed 
in items 1a, 1b, and 2 of section III. of this notice are effective as 
of November 3, 2006. The corrections to the wage index values listed in 
item 1c of section III. of this notice are effective November 21, 2006. 
The correction to the relative weighting factor listed in item 3 of 
section III. of this notice is effective October 1, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Slater, (410) 786-5229.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    In the October 11, 2006 Federal Register (71 FR 59886), we 
published a notice entitled ``Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment 
Systems and Fiscal Year 2007 Rates; Final Fiscal Year 2007 Wage Indices 
and Payment Rates After Application of Revised Occupational Mix 
Adjustment to Wage Index'' (hereinafter referred to as the ``FY 2007 
IPPS notice''). After publication of the October 11, 2006 notice, we 
became aware of errors in the wage indices. Section 412.64(k)(1) of the 
regulations requires that wage index corrections made after October 1 
are effective prospectively for the remainder of the fiscal year from 
the date the fiscal intermediaries are informed of the correction. We 
recalculated the wage indices for the affected hospitals, and on 
November 3, 2006, sent a Joint Signature Memorandum to the fiscal 
intermediaries informing them to pay hospitals using the corrected wage 
indices. Subsequent to the November 3, 2006 Joint Signature Memorandum, 
additional errors in the wage indices were brought to our attention and 
were corrected through a November 21, 2006 Joint Signature Memorandum. 
In the January 5, 2007 Federal Register (FR Doc. 06-9976, 72 FR 569), 
we then published a correction notice entitled ``Changes to the 
Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems and Fiscal Year 2007 
Rates; Final Fiscal Year 2007 Wage Indices and Payment Rates After 
Application of Revised Occupational Mix Adjustment to Wage Index;

[[Page 13799]]

Corrections'' (hereinafter referred to as the ``FY 2007 IPPS correction 
notice'') in order to reflect the recalculations included in the two 
Joint Signature Memoranda. Since the publication of the January 5, 2007 
correction notice, we have become aware of several technical errors 
included in the January 5, 2007 correction notice. The Joint Signature 
Memoranda used to inform fiscal intermediaries of hospital payment 
rates did not contain such errors, in part because those Memoranda use 
a slightly different format for presenting wage index data. Thus, the 
corrections in this notice do not alter the rates already being used by 
fiscal intermediaries to pay hospitals. Rather, the corrections ensure 
that the Federal Register accurately reflects the rates actually in 
place.
    In sections II. and III. of this correction notice, we summarize, 
identify, and correct the errors in the January 5, 2007 correction 
notice. We note that the corrections to items 1a, 1b and 2 of section 
III. of this notice are effective November 3, 2006; the correction to 
item 1c of section III of this notice is effective November 21, 2006, 
and the correction to item 3 of section III of this notice is effective 
October 1, 2006.

II. Summary of the Corrections to the FY 2007 IPPS Correction Notice

    We made corrections to several of the wage index values that were 
published in Table 2 in order to ensure that the published tables 
accurately reflect the rates actually being used by fiscal 
intermediaries. We also added a sentence to the note that appears at 
the end of Table 2. In addition, we are making a technical correction 
in Table 5 to the relative weighting factor listed for DRG 525.

III. Correction of Errors

    In FR Doc. 06-9976 of January 5, 2007 (72 FR 569), make the 
following corrections:
    1. On pages 570 through 571, in Table 2.--Hospital Case-Mix Indexes 
for Discharges Occurring in Federal Fiscal Year 2005; Hospital Wage 
Indexes for Federal Fiscal Year 2007; Hospital Average Hourly Wages for 
Federal Fiscal Years 2005 (2001 Wage Data), 2006 (2002 Wage Data), and 
2007 (2003 Wage Data); Wage Indexes and 3-Year Average of Hospital 
Average Hourly Wages, is corrected by--
    a. Correcting the following entries effective November 3, 2006:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               FY 2007
                        Provider No.                          wage index
------------------------------------------------------------------------
070003.....................................................       1.2452
070038.....................................................       1.2591
260015.....................................................       0.8353
260047.....................................................       0.8341
340073.....................................................       0.9775
390044.....................................................       1.0996
390096.....................................................       1.0996
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    b. Deleting the following entries effective November 3, 2006:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               FY 2007
                        Provider No.                          wage index
------------------------------------------------------------------------
530008.....................................................       0.9057
530009.....................................................       0.9057
530010.....................................................       0.9057
530011.....................................................       0.9057
530014.....................................................       0.9057
530017.....................................................       0.9057
530032.....................................................       0.9057
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    c. Correcting the following entries effective November 21, 2006:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               FY 2007
                        Provider No.                          wage index
------------------------------------------------------------------------
230013.....................................................       1.0492
230019.....................................................       1.0492
230029.....................................................       1.0492
230071.....................................................       1.0492
230130.....................................................       1.0492
230151.....................................................       1.0492
230207.....................................................       1.0492
230223.....................................................       1.0492
230254.....................................................       1.0492
230269.....................................................       1.0492
230277.....................................................       1.0492
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    2. On page 571, third column, second full paragraph, that ends with 
the parenthetical phrase ``(April 1-September 30, 2007),'' the 
paragraph is corrected by adding a sentence to read as follows:

    The separate wage index values for the first and second halves 
of FY 2007 can be viewed in Supplemental Table 2 on the CMS Web site 
at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/AcuteInpatientPPS/WIFN/list.asp#TopOfPage.

    3. On page 573 in Table 5.--List of Diagnosis-Related Groups 
(DRGs), Relative Weighting Factors, and Geometric and Arithmetic Mean 
Length of Stay (LOS), first line (DRG 525), seventh column (weights), 
the figure ``2.2268'' is corrected to read ``12.2268''.

IV. Discussion of Effective Date and Notice and Comment Rulemaking

    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). In addition, a 
final rule would ordinarily require a 30-day delay in effective date 
after the date of publication in the Federal Register. This correction 
of the rates published in the FY 2007 IPPS notice and subsequent FY 
2007 IPPS correction notice does constitute a rule under the 
Administrative Procedure Act, because in our FY 2007 IPPS final rule 
(71 FR 47870, August 18, 2006), we already published the methodologies 
and formulas we use for determining the wage index, geographic 
adjustment factors, and other rates. This notice does not change our 
methodology or formulas, but merely ensures that our notice accurately 
reflects the rates that are already being used to pay hospitals. As 
this notice is not a rule under the Administrative Procedure Act, no 
notice of proposed rulemaking or delay in effective date is necessary.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program No. 93.773, 
Medicare--Hospital Insurance; and Program No. 93.774, Medicare--
Supplementary Medical Insurance Program)

    Dated: March 16, 2007.
Ann C. Agnew,
Executive Secretary to the Department.
 [FR Doc. E7-5290 Filed 3-22-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P