CMS052264

It has come to our attention that the conversion factor and budget neutrality scalar for weights that were published in the CY 2006 OPPS proposed rule (CMS-1501-P) were incorrect because the rural adjustment of 6.6 percent was inadvertently incorporated as 6.4 percent in the calculation of the conversion factor and budget neutrality scalar, and also because there was a technical error in the estimate of the total aggregate payments for drugs and the total aggregate payments for services receiving new technology payments. This affects the payment rates and copayment amounts published in the proposed rule. All payment rates, except those for drugs and those for services receiving new technology payments, increase by 0.4 percent. The corrected scalar is 1.003753831, and the corrected conversion factor is 59.343. These changes also affect the impact table (Table 33) and Table 11 of the preamble that were published in the proposed rule. The following files that are posted below reflect these corrections: Addendum A, Addendum B, Addendum C, Median costs by APC, Median costs by HCPCS, Median costs for drugs and biologicals, the proposed rule tables (including the impact table), and the provider specific file.