St. Luke's Methodist Hospital v. Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services appeals the order of the district court 1 granting summary judgment to St. Luke’s Hospital. The hospital challenged the Secretary’s denial, in part, of its request for an upward adjustment from the routine cost limit applicable to hospital-based skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). We affirm.

I

By statute, the federal government reimburses SNFs for the “reasonable cost” of covered services that they provide to medicare beneficiaries. “Reasonable cost” is the cost “actually incurred, excluding any part ... unnecessary…