Medicare program; prospective payment system and consolidated billing for skilled nursing facilities for FY 2006. Final rule.

In this final rule we update the payment rates used under the prospective payment system (PPS) for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), for fiscal year (FY) 2006. Annual updates to the PPS rates are required by section 1888(e) of the Social Security Act (the Act), as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 (BBRA), the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 (BIPA), and the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), relating to Medicare payments and consolidated billing for SNFs. This final rule also responds to public comments submitted on the proposed rule published on May 19, 2005 (70 FR 29070), and promulgates provisions set forth in that proposed rule, along with several additional technical revisions to the regulations.