Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Contract Year 2026 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, Medicare Cost Plan Program, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly; Correction

I. Background

In FR Doc. 2025-06008 of April 15, 2025 (90 FR 15792), there were a few technical and typographical errors that are identified and corrected in this correcting document. The corrections in this correcting document are applicable to the effective date beginning June 3, 2025, as if they had been included in the document that appeared in the April 15, 2025, Federal Register .

II. Summary of Errors

On page 15899, we made an error in the CMS identification number of a collection of information request.

On page 15903, we made errors in Table 11 which provides the summary of the transfers and costs for the final rule. For the entry regarding costs, we made errors in the first year and year range of the costs.

III. Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking and Delay in Effective Date

Under 5 U.S.C. 553(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the agency is required to publish a notice of the proposed rule in the Federal Register before the provisions of a rule take effect. Specifically, 5 U.S.C. 553 requires the agency to publish a notice of the proposed rule in the Federal Register that includes a reference to the legal authority under which the rule is proposed, and the terms and substance of the proposed rule or a description of the subjects and issues involved. Further, 5 U.S.C. 553 requires the agency to give interested parties the opportunity to participate in the rulemaking through public comment on a proposed rule. Similarly, section 1871(b)(1) of the Social Security Act (the Act) requires the Secretary to provide for notice of the proposed rule in the Federal Register and provide a period of not less than 60 days for public comment for rulemaking to carry out the administration of the Medicare program under title XVIII of the Act. In addition, section 553(d) of the APA, and section 1871(e)(1)(B)(i) of the Act mandate a 30-day delay in effective date after issuance or publication of a rule. Sections 553(b)(B) and 553(d)(3) of the APA provide for exceptions from the notice and comment and delay in effective date APA requirements. In cases in which these exceptions apply, sections 1871(b)(2)(C) and 1871(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act also provide exceptions from the notice and 60-day comment period and delay in effective date requirements of the Act. Section 553(b)(B) of the APA and section 1871(b)(2)(C) of the Act authorize an agency to dispense with normal rulemaking requirements for good cause if the agency makes a finding that the notice and comment process are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. In addition, both section 553(d)(3) of the APA and section 1871(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act allow the agency to avoid the 30-day delay in the effective date where such delay is contrary to the public interest and an agency includes a statement of support.

We believe that this correcting document does not constitute a rule that would be subject to the notice and comment or delayed effective date requirements of the APA or section 1871 of the Act. This correcting document corrects typographical and technical errors in the preamble of the final rule but does not make substantive changes to the policies that were adopted in the final rule. As a result, this correcting document is intended to ensure that the information in the final rule accurately reflects the policies adopted in that final rule.

In addition, even if this were a rule to which the notice and comment procedures and delayed effective date requirements applied, we find that there is good cause to waive such requirements. Undertaking further notice and comment procedures to incorporate the regulatory text correction in this document into the final rule or delaying the effective date would be unnecessary, as we are not altering our policies or regulatory changes, but rather, we are simply implementing the policies and regulatory changes that we previously proposed, requested comment on, and subsequently finalized.

This final rule correcting document is intended solely to ensure that the final rule accurately reflects policies and regulatory changes that have been adopted through rulemaking. Furthermore, such notice and comment procedures would be contrary to the public interest because it is in the public's interest to ensure that the final rule accurately reflects our policies. Therefore, we believe we have good cause to waive the notice and comment and effective date requirements.

IV. Correction of Errors

In FR Doc. 2025-06008 of April 15, 2025 (90 FR 15792), make the following corrections:

1. On page 15899, second column, third full paragraph, lines 4 and 5, the parenthetical reference “(CMS-10662)” is corrected to read “(CMS-10062)”.

2. On page 15903, top half of the page, in the table titled “Table 11—Summary of the Transfers and Costs of the Final Rule by Provision and Year”, the fourth row (COSTS),

a. Second column, the year “2026” is corrected to read “2025”.

b. Last column, the years “2026-2035” are corrected to read “2025-2034”.