HOME HEALTH AGENCY COST LIMITS.

SEC. 4026. HOME HEALTH AGENCY COST LIMITS. (a) Data Used to Determine Limits.— (1) Section 1861(v)(1)(L) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(v)(1)(L)) is amended by adding at the end the following new clause: “(iii) In establishing limits under this subparagraph, the Secretary shall— “(I) utilize a wage index that is based on audited wage data obtained from home health agencies, and 101 STAT. 1330–75 “(II) base such limits on the most recent audited wage data available, which data may be for cost reporting periods beginning no earlier than July 1, 1985.”. (2) The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall apply to cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 1988. (b) Study of Limits.— The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall study and report to the Congress, not later than June 1, 1988, on— (1) whether the separate schedules of cost limits currently applied to home health agencies under title XVIII of the Social Security Act located in urban and rural areas accurately reflect differences in the costs of urban and rural home health agencies, and (2) the appropriateness of modifying such limits to take into account the proportion of agency patients who are from urban and rural areas.