(B) For the purpose of determining nursing facilities' rates for ancillary and support costs, the department shall establish six peer groups composed as follows:

1. (1) Each nursing facility located in any of the following counties shall be placed in peer group one or two: Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, and Warren. Each nursing facility located in any of those counties that has fewer than one hundred beds shall be placed in peer group one. Each nursing facility located in any of those counties that has one hundred or more beds shall be placed in peer group two.
2. (2) Each nursing facility located in any of the following counties shall be placed in peer group three or four: Allen, Ashtabula, Champaign, Clark, Cuyahoga, Darke, Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Geauga, Greene, Hancock, Knox, Lake, Licking, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Mahoning, Marion, Medina, Miami, Montgomery, Morrow, Ottawa, Pickaway, Portage, Preble, Ross, Sandusky, Seneca, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Union, and Wood. Each nursing facility located in any of those counties that has fewer than one hundred beds shall be placed in peer group three. Each nursing facility located in any of those counties that has one hundred or more beds shall be placed in peer group four.
3. (3) Each nursing facility located in any of the following counties shall be placed in peer group five or six: Adams, Ashland, Athens, Auglaize, Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Coshocton, Crawford, Defiance, Erie, Gallia, Guernsey, Hardin, Harrison, Henry, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Huron, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Logan, Meigs, Mercer, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Paulding, Perry, Pike, Putnam, Richland, Scioto, Shelby, Tuscarawas, Van Wert, Vinton, Washington, Wayne, Williams, and Wyandot. Each nursing facility located in any of those counties that has fewer than one hundred beds shall be placed in peer group five. Each nursing facility located in any of those counties that has one hundred or more beds shall be placed in peer group six.

(C)

1. (1) The department shall determine the rate for ancillary and support costs for each peer group established under division (B) of this section. The rate for ancillary and support costs determined under this division for a peer group shall be used for subsequent years until the department conducts a rebasing. To determine a peer group's rate for ancillary and support costs, the department shall do all of the following:

   1. (a) Subject to division (C)(2) of this section, determine the rate for ancillary and support costs for each nursing facility in the peer group for the applicable calendar year by using the greater of the nursing facility's actual inpatient days for the applicable calendar year or the inpatient days the nursing facility would have had for the applicable calendar year if its occupancy rate had been ninety per cent;
   2. (b) Subject to division (C)(3) of this section, identify which nursing facility in the peer group is at the twenty-fifth percentile of the rate for ancillary and support costs for the applicable calendar year determined under division (C)(1)(a) of this section;

   3. (c) Multiply the rate for ancillary and support costs determined under division (C)(1)(a) of this section for the nursing facility identified under division (C)(1)(b) of this section by the rate of inflation for the eighteen-month period beginning on the first day of July of the applicable calendar year and ending the last day of December of the calendar year immediately following the applicable calendar year using the following:

      1. (i) Except as provided in division (C)(1)(c)(ii) of this section, the consumer price index for all items for all urban consumers for the midwest region, published by the United States bureau of labor statistics;
      2. (ii) If the United States bureau of labor statistics ceases to publish the index specified in division (C)(1)(c)(i) of this section, the index the bureau subsequently publishes that covers urban consumers' prices for items for the region that includes this state.
2. (2) For the purpose of determining a nursing facility's occupancy rate under division (C)(1)(a) of this section, the department shall include any beds that the nursing facility removes from its medicaid-certified capacity unless the nursing facility also removes the beds from its licensed bed capacity.

3. (3) In making the identification under division (C)(1)(b) of this section, the department shall exclude both of the following:

   1. (a) Nursing facilities that participated in the medicaid program under the same provider for less than twelve months in the applicable calendar year;
   2. (b) Nursing facilities whose ancillary and support costs are more than one standard deviation from the mean desk-reviewed, actual, allowable, per diem ancillary and support cost for all nursing facilities in the nursing facility's peer group for the applicable calendar year.
4. (4) The department shall not redetermine a peer group's rate for ancillary and support costs under this division based on additional information that it receives after the rate is determined. The department shall redetermine a peer group's rate for ancillary and support costs only if the department made an error in determining the rate based on information available to the department at the time of the original determination.