Bellevue Hospital Center v. Leavitt

KATZMANN, Circuit Judge.

Seventy-six hospitals, plaintiffs-appellants here, challenge the Department of Health and Humans Services’ (“HHS”) implementation of a statutory requirement that the agency adjust hospitals’ reimbursements for the costs of administering care to Medicare recipients to reflect “differences in hospital wage levels” across “geographic area[s].” 42 U.S.C. § 1395ww(d)(3)(E)(i).

For more than two decades, HHS has divided the nation into geographic areas for these purposes by adopting the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (“MSAs”) formulated by the Office of Management and Budget…