Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Children's Hospital Association of Texas, et al. v. Alex M. Azar, II, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 18-5135 · judgment August 13, 2019
Before the decision, about 2.7× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a D.C. Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).
Question presented
Because of Medicaid’s low reimbursement rates, hospitals with large Medicaid patient populations have a statutory right to supplemental “Disproportionate Share Hospital” payments. Each year, those payments are capped based on a formula set by Congress: as relevant here, that cap equals the amount of costs the hospital incurred serving Medicaid-eligible patients (as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services) minus the payments the hospital received from Medicaid. For years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) followed this formula, subtracting only Medicaid payments from the hospital’s costs. But then CMS changed course to also subtract the amount of private insurance payments the hospital receives from treating Medicaid-eligible patients. After its initial attempt to change the policy was enjoined for being inconsistent with existing regulations, CMS promulgated a new regulation—but continued to insist this policy was the same as the prior regulation’s policy. The court below, like every court to address the question, rejected CMS’s claim of consistency. Yet it upheld CMS’s new regulation under Chevron. The questions presented are: 1. Whether an agency may receive Chevron deference when it erroneously denies that its current interpretation marks a change in position.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
David B. Salmons
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
For respondent
Jeffrey B. Wall
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Proceedings
- Oct 05 2020Petition DENIED.
- Sep 02 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
- Sep 01 2020Reply of petitioners Children’s Hospital Association of Texas, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Aug 18 2020Motion to delay distribution of the petition for a writ certiorari until September 2, 2020 granted.
- Aug 11 2020Motion of petitioner to delay distribution of the petition for a writ of certiorari under Rule 15.5 from August 26, 2020 to September 2, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 07 2020Brief of respondents Azar, Alex, et al. in opposition filed.
- Jul 07 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including August 7, 2020.
- Jul 06 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 10, 2020 to August 7, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- May 29 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including July 10, 2020.
- May 28 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 10, 2020 to July 10, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- May 11 2020Brief amicus curiae of New Civil Liberties Alliance filed.
- May 11 2020Brief amicus curiae of Children's Hospital Association filed.
- May 08 2020Brief amici curiae of New Hampshire Hospital Assoc filed.
- May 06 2020Brief amicus curiae of Southeastern Legal Foundation filed.
- Apr 20 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including June 10, 2020.
- Apr 17 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from May 11, 2020 to June 10, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Apr 06 2020Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 11, 2020)
- Jan 28 2020Application (19A843) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until April 6, 2020.
- Jan 27 2020Application (19A843) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from February 6, 2020 to April 6, 2020, submitted to The Chief Justice.