Shalala v. Guernsey Memorial Hospital

Justice O’Connor, with whom Justice Scalia, Justice Souter, and Justice Thomas join,

dissenting.

Unlike the Court, I believe that general Medicare reporting and reimbursement regulations require provider costs to be treated according to “generally accepted accounting principles.” As a result, I would hold that contrary guidelines issued by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in an informal policy manual and applied to determine the timing of reimbursement in this case are invalid for failure to comply with the notice and comment procedures established by the Administrative Procedure Act,…