In the wake of the Supreme Court's overturning of Chevron deference, Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health has filed a lawsuit against HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra challenging what the system calls the secretary's "irrational and unlawful interpretation of the statutes he is entrusted to administer."
The suit, filed June 28 in a Washington, D.C. federal court, challenges the interpretation of CMS' administration of the Medicare statutes, which "has deprived hospitals of some of the reimbursements they are due and the data to check their reimbursement rates," Hackensack said in a July 2 news release. The suit also challenges CMS' "refusal to enable hospitals to effectively employ the congressionally mandated procedures for obtaining relief from these underpayments."
The lawsuit was filed the same day the Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in a 6-3 ruling. Chevron deference, which emerged from a 1984 court case, stipulated that when disputes arise over regulation of an ambiguous law, judges should defer to federal agency interpretations so long as those interpretations are reasonable. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority that the framework has proved "unworkable" and allowed federal agencies to change course even without Congress' discretion.
Hackensack is seeking an order:
- Holding unlawful and setting aside CMS' calculation of the hospitals' supplemental security income (SSI) fractions for fiscal 2016 and directing that, on remand, "CMS shall have the burden of providing either countervailing evidence or valid legal grounds to overcome the Hospitals' prima facie evidence of error."
- Compelling CMS to disclose to the hospital patient-level SSI-eligibility data obtained from the Social Security Administration and to obtain from the SSA all such SSI-eligibility data and disclose it to the hospitals.
- Declaring that CMS' interpretation of "entitled to" SSI benefits is contrary to statute.
HHS did not immediately respond to a request from Becker's seeking comment.