[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 42, Volume 2]
[Revised as of October 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 42CFR405.505]

[Page 112-113]
 
                         TITLE 42--PUBLIC HEALTH
 
                    CHAPTER IV--CENTERS FOR MEDICARE
                          & MEDICAID SERVICES,
                        DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
                             HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 405_FEDERAL HEALTH INSURANCE FOR THE AGED AND DISABLED
--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart E_Criteria for Determining Reasonable Charges
 
Sec. 405.505  Determination of locality.

    ``Locality'' is the geographical area for which the carrier is to 
derive the reasonable charges or fee schedule amounts for services or 
items. Usually,

[[Page 113]]

a locality may be a State (including the District of Columbia, a 
territory, or a Commonwealth), a political or economic subdivision of a 
State, or a group of States. It should include a cross section of the 
population with respect to economic and other characteristics. Where 
people tend to gravitate toward certain population centers to obtain 
medical care or service, localities may be recognized on a basis 
constituting medical services areas (interstate or otherwise), 
comparable in concept to ``trade areas.'' Localities may differ in 
population density, economic level, and other major factors affecting 
charges for services. Carriers therefore shall delineate localities on 
the basis of their knowledge of local conditions. However, distinctions 
between localities are not to be so finely made that a locality includes 
only a very limited geographic area whose population has distinctly 
similar income characteristics (e.g., a very rich or very poor 
neighborhood within a city).

[57 FR 27305, June 18, 1992]