2006 proposed fee schedule - American Society of Clinical Oncology

exception rate. The facility would be paid based on its
case-mix adjusted composite payment rate beginning thirty
days after the intermediary’s receipt of written
notification that the facility wishes to give up its
exception rate. Once a facility notifies its fiscal
225
intermediary that it wishes to give up its exception rate,
that decision could not be subsequently rescinded or
reversed. We also propose to revise paragraph (b) of this
section to provide that ESRD facilities that retain their
existing exception rates do not need to notify their
intermediaries. Therefore, we propose to remove the last
sentence from paragraph (b) that states, “However, a
facility may only request an exception or seek to retain its
previously approved exception rate when authorized under the
conditions specified in paragraphs (d) and (e) of this
section.”
In the past, an ESRD facility could request an
exception to its prospective composite payment rate within
180 days of the effective date of its new composite rate(s)
or the date on which we opened a specific exception window.
Because only pediatric facilities can now file for
exceptions, we expect to receive a minimal number of
exception applications. In this section, we propose to
revise paragraph (d) to remove the requirement that an
application for an exception be filed within the 180-day