§ 412.234 - Criteria for all hospitals in an urban county seeking redesignation to another urban area.

§ 412.234 Criteria for all hospitals in an urban county seeking redesignation to another urban area.

(a) General criteria. For all prospective payment hospitals in an .urban county to be redesignated to another urban area, the following conditions must be met:

(1) All hospitals in an urban county must apply for redesignation as a group.

(2) The county in which the hospitals are located must be adjacent to the urban area to which they seek redesignation.

(3)

(i) For Federal fiscal years before fiscal year 2006, the counties in which the hospitals are located must be part of the Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) that includes the urban area to which they seek redesignation.

(ii) For Federal fiscal year 2006, hospitals located in counties that are in the same Combined Statistical Area (CSA) (under the MSA definitions announced by the OMB on June 6, 2003) as the urban area to which they seek redesignation; or in the same Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) (under the standards published by the OMB on March 30, 1990) as the urban area to which they seek designation qualify as meeting the proximity requirements for reclassification to the urban area to which they seek redesignation.

(iii) For Federal fiscal year 2007, hospitals located in counties that are in the same Combined Statistical Area (CSA) (under the MSA definitions announced by the OMB on June 6, 2003) as the urban area to which they seek redesignation qualify as meeting the proximity requirement for reclassification to the urban area to which they seek redesignation.

(iv) For Federal fiscal year 2008 and thereafter, hospitals located in counties that are in the same Combined Statistical Area (CSA) or Core-Based Statistical Area (CBSA) (under the most recent OMB standards for delineating statistical areas adopted by CMS and the most recent Census Bureau data) as the urban area to which they seek redesignation qualify as meeting the proximity requirement for reclassification to the urban area to which they seek redesignation.

(4) The hospital may be redesignated only if one of the following conditions is met:

(i) The prereclassified average hourly wage for the area to which they seek redesignation is higher than the prereclassified average hourly wage for the area in which they are currently located.

(ii) For fiscal years prior to fiscal year 2005, the standardized amount for the area to which they seek redesignation is higher than the standardized amount for the area in which they are located.

(b) Wage criteria. In applying the following numeric criteria, rounding of numbers to meet the qualifying percentages is not permitted.

(1) Aggregate hourly wage for fiscal years before fiscal year 2010 -

(i) Aggregate hourly wage. With respect to redesignations effective beginning fiscal year 1999 and before fiscal year 2010, the aggregate average hourly wage for all hospitals in the urban county must be at least 85 percent of the average hourly wage in the urban area to which the hospitals in the county seek reclassification.

(ii) Aggregate hourly wage weighted for occupational mix. For redesignations effective before fiscal year 1999, the aggregate hourly wage for all hospitals in the county, weighed for occupational categories, is at least 90 percent of the average hourly wage in the adjacent urban area.

(2) Aggregate hourly wage for fiscal year 2010. With respect to redesignations effective for fiscal year 2010, the aggregate average hourly wage for all hospitals in the urban county must be at least 86 percent of the average hourly wage in the urban area to which the hospitals in the county seek reclassification.

(3) Aggregate hourly wage for fiscal year 2011 and later fiscal years. With respect to redesignations effective for fiscal year 2011 and later fiscal years, the aggregate average hourly wage for all hospitals in the urban county must be at least 85 percent of the average hourly wage in the urban area to which the hospitals in the county seek reclassification.

(c) Appropriate wage data.

(1) The hospitals must submit appropriate wage data as provided for in § 412.230(d)(2).

(2) For redesignations effective beginning FY 2009, the appropriate wage data of an individual campus located in a geographic area different from the area associated with the provider number of the entire multicampus hospital are the wage data described in § 412.232(d)(2)(iii).

[56 FR 25488, June 4, 1991, as amended at 57 FR 39826, Sept. 1, 1992; 58 FR 46339, Sept. 1, 1993; 60 FR 45849, Sept. 1, 1995; 62 FR 46031, Aug. 29, 1997; 69 FR 49249, Aug. 11, 2004; 70 FR 47487, Aug. 12, 2005; 71 FR 48140, Aug. 18, 2006; 72 FR 47412, Aug. 22, 2007; 73 FR 48756, Aug. 19, 2008; 75 FR 50415, Aug. 16, 2010; 79 FR 50355, Aug. 22, 2014]