Adventist Glenoaks Hospital v. Sebelius

SYKES, Circuit Judge.

One of the factors affecting the amount of Medicare reimbursement a hospital receives from the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) is the average hourly wage of the employees in its geographic region. HHS currently includes paid lunch hours in that calculation. The plaintiffs here — more than 80 hospitals in Rhode Island, Kentucky, and greater Chicago — object to this practice because some hospitals in their regions give employees paid lunch breaks, which depresses the average area hourly wage and, in turn, their Medicare reimbursements. The Secretary of HHS…