Medicare program; assignment and reassignment of home health agencies to designated regional intermediaries--HCFA. Proposed notice.

Section 1816(e)(4) of the Social Security Act (as amended by Section 2326(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, Pub. L. 98-369) requires that the number of regional intermediaries designated to service freestanding home health agencies (HHAs) be limited to not more than ten. In accordance with Section 1816(e)(4) of the Act and existing regulations, this notice announces our proposal to designate ten regional intermediaries to process the workload of these HHAs, the States each intermediary would service, the general criteria used to select these intermediaries, and the procedures we plan to use during the change-over period. This notice also announces our tentative selections of designated regional intermediaries. The goal of this notice and the legislation on which it is based is to achieve more consistent and effective administration of the home health benefit under the Medicare program.