new template file called home.php, any suggestions?

hi
my problem is that i want my latest blog entry (just the date, title and category) added above the content on my static home page. my static homepage works fine but i have been researching and may need 2 create a seperate template file for the homepage to achieve this.

can i just duplicate index.php and call it home.php?
then add the php template tags to call the latest blog entry along with my static homepage content?

i try to post to thios forum only as a last resory, after reading through he documentation and googling it, im still stuck.