Medicare program; home health prospective payment system rate update for calendar year 2006. Final rule

This final rule sets forth an update to the 60-day national episode rates and the national per-visit amounts under the Medicare prospective payment system for home health agencies. This final rule is the first update of the home health prospective payment system (HH PPS) rates that uses the revised area labor market Metropolitan Statistical Area designations for calendar year 2006. In implementing the new area labor market designations, we are allowing for a one-year transition period. This transition consists of a blend of 50 percent of the new area labor market designations' wage index and 50 percent of the previous area labor market designations' wage index. In addition, we are revising the fixed dollar loss ratio, which is used in the calculation of outlier payments.