456
Opinion of the Court
II
The Hospital argues that the Secretary's reaudit regulation is an impermissible retroactive rule and, on that account alone, is invalid. It is an argument we need not linger over. Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U. S. 244 (1994), explained that " 'the legal effect of conduct should ordinarily be assessed under the law that existed when the conduct took place,' " id., at 265 (quoting Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. v. Bonjorno, 494 U. S. 827, 855 (1990) (Scalia, J., concurring)), but further clarified that a prescription " 'is not made retroactive merely because it draws upon antecedent facts for its operation,' " 511 U. S., at 270, n. 24 (quoting Cox v. Hart, 260 U. S. 427, 435 (1922)). The reaudit rule accords with Landgraf 's instruction. The rule calls for application of the cost-reimbursement principles in effect at the time the costs were incurred. A correct application of those principles, not the application of any new reimbursement principles, is the rule's objective. Cf. Bowen v. Georgetown Univ. Hospital, 488 U. S. 204, 207 (1988) (regulation at issue impermissibly invoked a new substantive standard as a basis for recouping sums previously paid to hospitals). Furthermore, the Secretary's reaudits leave undisturbed the actual 1984 reimbursements and reimbursements for any later cost-reporting year on which the three-year reopening window had closed. The adjusted reasonable cost figures resulting from the re-audits are to be used solely to calculate reimbursements for still open and future years. See supra, at 454.
Understandably, there is no Circuit split on this issue. Although holding against the Secretary on other grounds, the Sixth Circuit concisely stated why the reaudit rule "does not amount to an impermissibly retroactive regulation": The rule "require[s] a determination based upon events occurring in the base year," but "it does not change the standards under which the base year costs are to be determined." Toledo Hospital v. Shalala, 104 F. 3d, at 795.
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