Rule2024-22497
Medicare Program; Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System for Federal Fiscal Year 2025 and Updates to the IRF Quality Reporting Program; Correction
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 2, 2024
Effective
October 1, 2024
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Abstract
This document corrects technical and typographical errors in the final rule that appeared in the August 6, 2024 Federal Register entitled "Medicare Program; Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System for Federal Fiscal Year 2025 and Updates to the IRF Quality Reporting Program" (referred to hereafter as the "FY 2025 IRF final rule"). The effective date of the FY 2025 IRF final rule is October 1, 2024.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 191 (Wednesday, October 2, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 191 (Wednesday, October 2, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 80131-80132]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22497]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
42 CFR Parts 412
[CMS-1804-CN]
RIN 0938-AV31
Medicare Program; Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective
Payment System for Federal Fiscal Year 2025 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.
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SUMMARY: This document corrects technical and typographical errors in
the final rule that appeared in the August 6, 2024 Federal Register
entitled ``Medicare Program; Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility
Prospective Payment System for Federal Fiscal Year 2025 and Updates to
the IRF Quality Reporting Program'' (referred to hereafter as the ``FY
2025 IRF final rule''). The effective date of the FY 2025 IRF final
rule is October 1, 2024.
DATES: This correction is effective October 1, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kia Burwell, (410) 786-7816.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
In FR Doc. 2024-16911 of August 6, 2024, the FY 2025 IRF final rule
(89 FR 64276), 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 2025 IRF final
rule. Accordingly, the corrections are effective October 1, 2024.
II. Summary of Errors
A. Summary of Errors in the Preamble
On page 64304, we made a typographical error in the standard
payment amount calculated following the application of the budget
neutrality factor for the FY 2025 wage index due to the number being
transposed in the original text.
A technical error in the calculation of the final FY 2025 IRF PPS
wage indexes require us to recalculate the impact analysis provided on
pages 64335 and 64336 in Table 17. Discussions of these errors are
found in section IV. of this document.
B. Summary of Errors and Corrections Posted on the CMS Website for the
IRF Wage Index
As discussed in the FY 2025 IRF PPS final rule (89 FR 64289 through
64291), in developing the wage index to be applied to IRFs under the
IRF PPS, we use the updated, pre-reclassified, pre-rural floor hospital
inpatient PPS (IPPS) wage data, exclusive of the occupational mix
adjustment. For FY 2025, 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, 2020, and before
October 1, 2021 (FY 2021 cost report data), as discussed in the final
rule entitled ``Medicare and Medicaid Programs and the Children's
Health Insurance 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 2025
Rates; Quality Programs Requirements; and Other Policy Changes'' (89 FR
69896) (hereinafter referred to as the FY 2025 IPPS final rule). In
calculating the wage index under the FY 2025 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 and Medicaid Programs and the Children's Health Insurance
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 2025 Rates; Quality Programs
[[Page 80132]]
Requirements; and Other Policy Changes; 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 resulting from
excluding the Medicare cost report wage data for CMS Certification
Number (CCN) 260163, which caused a change in the wage index for rural
Missouri. The wage data for this hospital has been restored and
included in the wage index.
Thus, the use of the corrected wage data for the rural Missouri
CBSA 26 required the recalculation of the final FY 2025 IRF PPS wage
indexes. Additionally, as discussed in the FY 2025 IRF PPS final rule,
adjustments or updates to the IRF wage index made under section
1886(j)(6) of the Social Security Act (the Act) must be made in a
budget-neutral manner. Due to the recalculation and subsequent revision
of the final FY 2025 IRF PPS wage indexes, it was necessary to
recalculate the FY 2025 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 17 of
the FY 2025 IRF PPS final rule (89 FR 64335 through 64337). 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 <a href="https://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/prospective-payment-systems/inpatient-rehabilitation">https://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/prospective-payment-systems/inpatient-rehabilitation</a>. Table B has been updated to reflect the error in the
wage index for the State of Missouri discussed in this correcting
document, and we are republishing the wage indexes in Tables A and B
accordingly on the CMS website at <a href="https://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/prospective-payment-systems/inpatient-rehabilitation">https://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/prospective-payment-systems/inpatient-rehabilitation</a>.
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 Act requires the
Secretary to provide for notice of the proposed rule in the Federal
Register and provide a period of 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 2025 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 2025 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 2025 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 FR Doc. 2024-16911 of August 6, 2024 (89 FR 64276), make the
following corrections:
1. On page 64304, third column; third full paragraph, line 20, the
Standard Payment Amount that reads ``$18,592'' is corrected to read
``$18,952''.
2. On page 64335, Table 17 titled ``IRF Impact for FY 2025 (Columns
4 through 7 in percentage)'', row 13, column 5, the FY 2025 Wage Index
(5% cap), FY 2024 CBSA delineations, and Labor-Related Share the value
that reads ``0.5'' is corrected to read ``0.6''.
3. On page 64336, Table 17 titled ``IRF Impact for FY 2025 (Columns
4 through 7 in percentage)'', row 13,
a. Column 5, the FY 2025 Wage Index (5% cap), FY 2024 CBSA
delineations, and Labor-Related Share value that reads ``1.1'' is
corrected to read ''1.2''.
b. Column 9, the Total Percent Change that reads ``3.6'' is
corrected to read ``3.8.''
Elizabeth J. Gramling,
Executive Secretary to the Department, Department of Health and Human
Services.
[FR Doc. 2024-22497 Filed 9-27-24; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 2, 2024.
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