Cite as: 522 U. S. 448 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
III
We turn, next, to the question that has divided the Circuits: Is the Secretary's interpretation of § 1395ww(h)(2)(A), embodied in the reaudit rule, entitled to deference? Under the formulation now familiar, when we examine the Secretary's rule interpreting a statute, we ask first whether "the intent of Congress is clear" as to "the precise question at issue." Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, 842 (1984). If, by "employing traditional tools of statutory construction," id., at 843, n. 9, we determine that Congress' intent is clear, "that is the end of the matter," id., at 842. But "if the statute is silent or ambiguous with respect to the specific issue, the question for the court is whether the agency's answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute." Id., at 843. If the agency's reading fills a gap or defines a term in a reasonable way in light of the Legislature's design, we give that reading controlling weight, even if it is not the answer "the court would have reached if the question initially had arisen in a judicial proceeding." Id., at 843, n. 11.
A
We must decide whether Congress, under § 1395ww(h) (2)(A), intended to prohibit the Secretary from ensuring an accurate GME base-year amount by reauditing a provider's statement of 1984 GME costs for past errors, outside the Secretary's three-year reopening window. Put another way, does "shall determine" for the baseline year 1984 the "amount recognized as reasonable" inevitably refer to the amount originally, or on reopening within three years, recognized as reasonable; or could the statute plausibly be read to mean, in light of the new methodology making 1984 critical for all subsequent years, an "amount recognized as reasonable" through a reauditing process designed to catch
457
Page: Index Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007