DESCRIPTIONS

COST LIMITS

Medicare HHA Cycle 14 Data Set

This file contains cost, statistical and other data used in establishing the Home Health Agency (HHA) Cost Limits for fiscal periods beginning on or after October 1, 1997. The cost and statistical data were obtained from Free Standing Medicare HHA cost reports (Forms 1728-86 and 1728-94) for full cost reporting periods "Beginning" on "or after May 31, 1991", and which had "Settlement" dates of October 10, 1995, or earlier. This file also contains the applicable 1992 hospital wage index and HHA Market Basket Adjustment Factor.

Medicare HHA Cycle 15 Data Set

This file contains cost, statistical and other data used in establishing the Home Health Agency (HHA) Cost Limits for fiscal periods beginning after October 1, 1998. The cost and statistical data were obtained from Free Standing Medicare HHA cost reports (Form 1728-94) for full cost reporting periods "Beginning" on "or after January 1, 1994," and settled by May 1998. This file also contains the applicable 1992 hospital wage index and HHA Market Basket Adjustment Factor.

Medicare HHA ABL Cycle 1 Data Set

This file contains data used to calculate the Home Health Agency (HHA) Aggregate Beneficiary Limits (ABL) for cost reports beginning on or after October 1, 1997, as required by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The calculation of the limitations required that we use unduplicated census counts for each provider which were calculated from the National Claims History File and are included in the file. The file was created using the most recent settled cost report data for both free-standing and hosptial based providers. The file also contains applicable hosptial wage index and HHA Market Basket Adjustment Factor.

Medicare HHA ABL Cycle 2 Data Set

This file contains data used to calculate the Home Health Agency (HHA) Aggregate Beneficiary Limits (ABL) for cost reports beginning on or after October 1, 1998, as required by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The calculation of the limitations required that we use unduplicated census counts for each provider which were calculated from the National Claims History File and are included in the file. The file was created using the most recent settled cost report data for both free-standing and hospital based providers. The file also contains applicable hospital wage index and HHA Market Basket Adjustment Factor.

Medicare Home Health Agency Cycle 13 Data Set Used to Calculate Budget Neutrality and Cost Impacts

The file contains data obtained from Freestanding and Hospital-based Medicare HHA cost reports for full cost reporting periods beginning on or after May 31, 1991, and settlement dates before October 10, 1995. The data for each provider are Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) code, type of agency (freestanding or hospital-based), labor and non-labor cost for each of the six types of visits, and the number of visits by type. The costs are those taken directly from the cost reports before being inflated to reflect costs as of July 1, 1998. The market-basket inflation factor used to inflate costs from the end of the cost reporting period to July 1, 1997, is contained in the file as is the wage index factor.