Medicare program; invalidation of the wage index in the schedule of limits on Hospital per diem inpatient general routine operating costs for cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 1981 and ending with cost reporting periods beginning on or before September 30, 1982--HCFA. Notice.

This notice announces the April 29, 1983 decision of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the case of District of Columbia Hospital Association, et al. v. Heckler, et al. (No. 82-2520 D.D.C.). In its decision, the court ordered us to publish a notice in the Federal Register stating that the 1981 schedule of limits on hospital per diem inpatient general routine operating costs has been declared invalid with regard to the wage index for cost reporting periods beginning on or before July 1, 1981 and ending with cost reporting periods beginning on or before September 30, 1982. The District Court held that the decision to exclude Federal government hospital wage data from the computation of the wage index used in the 1981 Medicare hospital cost limits, without providing prior notice and an opportunity for comment, was in violation of the rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. The decision of the District Court does not apply to cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 1982. The cost limits for periods beginning on or after October 1, 1982 are contained in the interim final notice with comment period published in the Federal Register on September 30, 1982 (47 FR 43296).