Medicaid program; model Medicaid application form--HCFA. Notice

This notice publishes a model Medicaid application form that States have the option of using in full, in part, with modification or not at all. It would be used for noninstitutionalized individuals applying for benefits under title XIX of the Social Security Act who are not receiving cash assistance under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, Part A of title IV of the Social Security Act. This notice is published in accordance with section 6506(b) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 (Pub. L. 101-239), which requires the Secretary to develop a model Medicaid application form for publication in the Federal Register.     

Medicaid program; limitations on aggregate payments to disproportionate share hospitals: federal fiscal year 1994--HCFA. Notice

This notice announces the preliminary Federal fiscal year (FFY) 1994 national target and individual State allotments for Medicaid payment adjustments made to hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of Medicaid recipients and low-income patients with special needs. We are publishing this notice in accordance with the provisions of section 1923(f)(1)(C) of the Social Security Act (the Act) and implementing regulations at 42 CFR 447.297 through 447.299. The preliminary FFY 1994 State DSH allotments published in this notice will be superseded by final FFY 1994 DSH allotments to be published in the Federal Register by April 1, 1994.     

Medicare program: data, standards, and methodology used to establish fiscal year 1994 budgets for fiscal intermediaries and carriers--HCFA. Final notice

This notice is published in accordance with sections 1816(c)(1) and 1842(c)(1) of the Social Security Act which require us to publish the final data, standards, and methodology used to establish budgets for Medicare intermediaries and carriers. In this notice, we respond to the comments received in response to our notice of October 5, 1993 and we announce the adoption of the proposed data, standards, and methodology that we used to establish the Medicare fiscal intermediary and carrier budgets for fiscal year (FY) 1994, beginning October 1, 1993, as final and without revision.     

Medicare and Medicaid programs; quarterly listing of program issuances and coverage decisions--HCFA. Notice

This notice lists HCFA manual instructions, substantive and interpretive regulations and other Federal Register notices, and statements of policy that were published during October, November, and December of 1992 that relate to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Section 1871(c) of the Social Security Act requires that we publish a list of Medicare issuances in the Federal Register at least every 3 months. Although we are not mandated to do so by statute, for the sake of completeness of the listing, we are including all Medicaid issuances and Medicare and Medicaid substantive and interpretive regulations (proposed and final) published during this timeframe. We also are providing the content of revisions to the Medicare Coverage Issues Manual published between October 1 and December 31, 1992. On August 21, 1989 (54 FR 34555), we published the content of the Manual and indicated that we will publish quarterly any updates. Adding to this listing the complete text of the changes to the Medicare Coverage Issues Manual allows us to fulfill this requirement in a manner that facilitates identification of coverage and other changes in our manuals.     

Medicare and Medicaid Programs; quarterly listing of program issuances and coverage decisions--first quarter 1994--HCFA. Notice

This notice lists HCFA manual instructions, substantive and interpretive regulations and other Federal Register notices, and statements of policy that were published during January, February, and March of 1994 that relate to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Section 1871(c) of the Social Security Act requires that we publish a list of Medicare issuances in the Federal Register at least every 3 months. Although we are not mandated to do so by statute, for the sake of completeness of the listing, we are including all Medicaid issuances and Medicare and Medicaid substantive and interpretive regulations (proposed and final) published during this timeframe. We are also providing the content of revisions to the Medicare Coverage Issues Manual published between January 1, and March 31, 1994. On August 21, 1989 (54 FR 34555), we published the content of the Manual and indicated that we will publish quarterly any updates. Adding to this listing the complete text of the changes to the Medicare Coverage Issues Manual allows us to fulfill this requirement in a manner that facilitates identification of coverage and other changes in our manuals.     

Medicare and Medicaid programs; quarterly listing of program issuances--fourth quarter 1997--HCFA. Notice

This notice lists HCFA manual instructions, substantive and interpretive regulations, and other Federal Register notices that were published during October, November, and December of 1997 that relate to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. It also identifies certain devices with investigational device exemption numbers approved by the Food and Drug Administration that may be potentially covered under Medicare. Section 1871(c) of the Social Security Act requires that we publish a list of Medicare issuances in the Federal Register at least every 3 months. Although we are not mandated to do so by statute, for the sake of completeness of the listing, we are including all Medicaid issuances and Medicare and Medicaid substantive and interpretive regulations (proposed and final) published during this timeframe.     

Medicare and Medicaid programs; quarterly listing of program issuances and coverage decisions--fourth quarter 1993--HCFA. Notice

This notice lists HCFA manual instructions, substantive and interpretive regulations and other Federal Register notices, and statements of policy that were published during October, November, and December of 1993 that relate to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Section 1871(c) of the Social Security Act requires that we publish a list of Medicare issuances in the Federal Register at least every 3 months. Although we are not mandated to do so by statute, for the sake of completeness of the listing, we are including all Medicaid issuances and Medicare and Medicaid substantive and interpretive regulations (proposed and final) published during this timeframe. We are also providing the content of revisions to the Medicare Coverage Issues Manual published between October 1 and December 31, 1993. On August 21, 1989 (54 FR 34555), we published the content of the Manual and indicated that we will publish quarterly any updates. Adding to this listing the complete text of the changes to the Medicare Coverage Issues Manual allows us to fulfill this requirement in a manner that facilitates identification of coverage and other changes in our manuals.     

Medicare and Medicaid programs; quarterly listing of program issuances; fourth quarter 1996--HCFA. Notice

This notice lists HCFA manual instructions, substantive and interpretive regulations, and other Federal Register notices that were published during October, November, and December of 1996 that relate to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. It also indicates certain devices with investigational device exemption numbers approved by the Food and Drug Administration that may be potentially covered under Medicare. Section 1871(c) of the Social Security Act requires that we publish a list of Medicare issuances in the Federal Register at least every 3 months. Although we are not mandated to do so by statute, for the sake of completeness of the listing, we are including all Medicaid issuances and Medicare and Medicaid substantive and interpretive regulations (proposed and final) published during this time frame.     

Criteria for use of blue "Star of Life" for emergency medical services. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Notice

This notice amends NHTSA's guidelines for the authorized use of the blue "Star of Life" symbols for emergency medical services. Comments received in response to an earlier notice suggested uses for this symbol that were not considered when these guidelines were first developed. These amendments are intended to provide additional flexibility to the States within the purposes for which the blue Star of Life was originally registered as a certification mark.     

Medicare Program; physician performance standard rates of increase for fiscal year 1994 and physician fee schedule update for calendar year 1994--HCFA. Correction of final notice with comment period

This document corrects an error that occurred in the calculation of the fiscal year 1994 Medicare volume performance standard for surgical services and that appeared in the final notice with comment period published in the Federal Register on December 2, 1993 (58 FR 63856) entitled "Medicare Program; Physician Performance Standard Rates of Increase for Fiscal Year 1994 and Physician Fee Schedule Update for Calendar Year 1994." This notice also corrects a typographical error in a date.     

Medicare program; changes to the hospital inpatient prospective payment systems and fiscal year 1995 rates; correction--HCFA. Final rule; correction

In the September 1, 1994 issue of the Federal Register (59 FR 45330), we published a final rule with comment period revising the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems for operating costs and capital-related costs to implement necessary changes arising from our continuing experience with the system. In the addendum to that final rule with comment period, we announced the prospective payment rates for Medicare hospital inpatient services for operating costs and capital-related costs applicable to discharges occurring on or after October 1, 1994, and set forth update factors for the rate-of-increase limits for hospitals and hospital units excluded from the prospective payment systems. This notice corrects errors made in that document.     

Medicare program; criteria and standards for evaluating intermediary and carrier performance during FY 1995--HCFA. General notice with comment period

This notice describes the criteria and standards to be used for evaluating the performance of fiscal intermediaries and carriers in the administration of the Medicare program beginning October 1, 1994. The results of these evaluations are considered whenever HCFA enters into, renews, or terminates an intermediary agreement or carrier contract or takes other contract actions (for example, assigning or reassigning providers of services to an intermediary or designating regional or national intermediaries). This notice is published in accordance with sections 1816(f) and 1842(b)(2) of the Social Security Act. We are publishing for public comment in the Federal Register those criteria and standards against which we evaluate intermediaries and carriers.     

Physician performance standard rates of increase for federal fiscal year 1994 and physician fee schedule update for calendar year 1994--HCFA. Final notice with comment period

This notice announces the calendar year (CY) 1994 updates to the Medicare physician fee schedule and the Federal fiscal year (FY) 1994 performance standard rates of increase for expenditures and volume of physicians' services under the Medicare Supplementary Medical Insurance (Part B) program as required by sections 1848 (d) and (f), respectively, of the Social Security Act. The physician performance standard rates of increase for Federal FY 1994 are 8.6 percent for surgical services, 10.5 percent for primary care services, 9.2 percent for other nonsurgical services, and 9.3 percent for all physicians' services. The fee schedule update for CY 1994 is 10.0 percent for surgical services, 7.9 percent for primary care services, and 5.3 percent for other nonsurgical services. This notice also references the surgical and nonsurgical designations for new and revised procedure codes in the Physicians' Current Procedural Terminology, to be used in applying the CY 1994 updates and for establishing and measuring expenditures under the MVPS for FY 1994. These designations appear in Addendum C of the final rule with comment period entitled "Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies and Adjustments to the Relative Value Units under the Physician Fee Schedule for Calendar Year 1994 (BPD-770-FC)," published elsewhere in this Federal Register issue. The new and revised surgical and nonsurgical designations are subject to public comment. In addition, this notice addresses public comments on the "initial" procedure-specific list of surgical services published in our November 25, 1992, notice.     

Medicaid program; eligibility and coverage requirements--HCFA. Final Rule

This final rule withdraws regulations setting forth a mandatory budgetary method for determining financial eligibility for individuals who are not receiving or deemed to be receiving Federal cash assistance but whose financial eligibility for Medicaid is being determined through the application of financial criteria of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. These regulations were previously issued as part of a final rule with comment period originally published on January 19, 1993, and were to be effective October 18, 1994. This final rule also makes conforming technical changes, as a result of this withdrawal, to the remainder of the January 19, 1993, final rule and reaffirms the August 18, 1994, effective date of this remaining part. These changes are being made as a result of consideration of public comments received.     

Medicaid program; deadline for submitting moratorium state plan amendments--HCFA. Notice

This notice announces the deadline for Medicaid State agencies to submit State plan amendments requesting moratorium protection under section 2373(c) of the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, as amended by the Medicare and Medicaid Patient and Program Protection Act of 1987. Section 2373(c) initiated a moratorium period during which HCFA cannot take any compliance, disallowance, penalty or other regulatory action against a State agency whose State plan contains an income or resource methodology or standard for determining eligibility for medically needy and certain categorically needy groups that is less restrictive than the required standard or methodology. This notice provides formal notification to States that plan amendments requesting moratorium protection will not be accepted after the last day of the first full calendar quarter following publication of this notice in the Federal Register.     

Medicaid program; limitations on aggregate payments to disproportionate share hospitals; Federal Fiscal Year 1993--HCFA. Notice

This notice announces the final Federal fiscal year (FFY) 1993 individual State allotments for Medicaid payments made to hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of Medicaid recipients and low-income patients with special needs. The final FFY 1993 State DSH allotments published in this notice supersede the preliminary FFY 1993 DSH allotments that were published in the Federal Register (57 FR 55261) on November 24, 1992.     

Medicaid program; disproportionate share hospital payments-institutions for mental disease--HCFA. Notice

This notice announces the Federal share disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotments for Federal fiscal years (FFYs) 1998 through 2002. This notice also describes the methodology for calculating the Federal share DSH allotments for FFY 2003 and thereafter, and announces the FFY 1998 and FFY 1999 limitations on aggregate DSH payments States may make to institutions for mental disease (IMD) and other mental health facilities. In addition, it clarifies the DSH reporting requirements required by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA '97).     

Medicare program; refinements to geographic adjustment factor values, revisions to payment policies, adjustments to the relative value units (RVUs) under the physician fee schedule for calendar year 1995, and the 5-year refinement of RVUs; correction--HCFA. Correction of final rule with comment period

This document is a second correction to technical errors that appeared in the final rule with comment period entitled "Medicare Program; Refinements to Geographic Adjustment Factor Values, Revisions to Payment Policies, Adjustments to the Relative Value Units (RVUs) Under the Physician Fee Schedule for Calendar Year 1995, and the 5-Year Refinement of RVUs" published in the Federal Register on December 8, 1994. The first correction notice was published in the Federal Register on January 3, 1995 (60 FR 46).     

Medicaid program; final limitations on aggregate payments to disproportionate share hospitals: Federal fiscal year 1996--HCFA. Notice

This notice announces the final Federal fiscal year (FFY) 1996 national target and individual State allotments for Medicaid payment adjustments made to hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of Medicaid recipients and low-income patients with special needs. We are publishing this notice in accordance with the provisions of section 1923(f)(1)(C) of the Social Security Act and implementing regulations at 42 CFR 447.297 through 447.299. The final FFY 1996 State DSH allotments published in this notice supersede the preliminary FFY 1996 DSH allotments that were published in the Federal Register on May 9, 1996.