454
Opinion of the Court
The reasonableness of the Secretary's construction of the statute is further confirmed by Califano v. Sanders, 430 U. S. 99 (1977), in which we held that § 205(g) of the Social Security Act does not authorize judicial review of the Secretary's decision not to reopen a previously adjudicated claim for benefits.2 In reaching this conclusion we relied, in part, upon two considerations: that the opportunity to reopen a benefit adjudication was afforded only by regulation and not by the Social Security Act itself; and that judicial review of a reopening denial would frustrate the statutory purpose of imposing a 60-day limit on judicial review of the Secretary's final decision on an initial claim for benefits. Id., at 108. Similar considerations apply here. The right of a provider to seek reopening exists only by grace of the Secretary, and the statutory purpose of imposing a 180-day limit on the right to seek Board review of NPRs, see 42 U. S. C. § 1395oo(a)(3), would be frustrated by permitting requests to reopen to be reviewed indefinitely.
Finally, we do not think that the Secretary's position is inconsistent with 42 U. S. C. § 1395x(v)(1)(A)(ii), which provides that the Secretary's cost-reimbursement regulations shall "provide for the making of suitable retroactive corrective adjustments where, for a provider of services for any fiscal period, the aggregate reimbursement produced by the methods of determining costs proves to be either inadequate or excessive." Petitioner asserts that the reopening regulations, as construed by the Secretary, do not create a "suitable" procedure for making "retroactive corrective adjustments" because an intermediary's refusal to reopen a determination is not subject to administrative review. In
2 The relevant portion of § 205(g), as set forth in 42 U. S. C. § 405(g) (1970 ed.), provided that "[a]ny individual, after any final decision of the Secretary made after a hearing to which he was a party, irrespective of the amount in controversy, may obtain a review of such decision by a civil action commenced within sixty days . . . ." See Califano v. Sanders, 430 U. S., at 108.
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