Cite as: 522 U. S. 448 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
be recognized through the GME payment indefinitely." 54 Fed. Reg. 40301 (1989).2
We face these choices. Congress meant either for the Secretary to calculate future reimbursements using the figure emerging through regular NAPR review and the three-year reopening window, or for the Secretary to use the figure recognized as reasonable at a later time, informed by a more careful assessment. The Secretary realized, tardily, that the Hospital's reimbursement for 1984 (like that granted many other providers) was inconsistent with the reasonableness standards under the Medicare Act and its implementing regulations. Congress likely assumed that the Secretary would act in time to adjust the 1984 costs to achieve accuracy both in 1984 reimbursements and in future calculations.3 Had Congress contemplated that the Secretary would not have responded to the 1986 GME Amendment swiftly enough to catch 1984 NAPR errors within the Secretary's
2 The Hospital also raises the specter of the Secretary perpetually re-auditing the base-year costs. Here, the Secretary had a compelling reason to reaudit the base-year costs, for those costs, under the new GME scheme, would be projected far into the future. The Administrative Procedure Act, 80 Stat. 392, as amended, 5 U. S. C. § 701 et seq., which requires a court to "hold unlawful and set aside agency action" that is "arbitrary" or "capricious," see § 706(2)(A), should protect the Hospital from any future reaudits performed without legitimate reason.
3 Congress more firmly instructed that the Secretary, no later than December 31, 1987, "shall report" to specific Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives on the need for revisions to provide greater uniformity in approved full-time-equivalent resident amounts. The date set for the report was inside the three-year reopening window. Note following 42 U. S. C. § 1395ww; see post, at 468. Missing the deadline by some years, the Secretary did not file the required report until March 24, 1992. The Secretary's failure to meet the deadline, a not uncommon occurrence when heavy loads are thrust on administrators, does not mean that official lacked power to act beyond it. See, e. g., Brock v. Pierce County, 476 U. S. 253, 260 (1986) (even though the Secretary of Labor did not meet a "shall" statutory deadline, the Court "would be most reluctant to conclude that every failure of an agency to observe a procedural requirement voids subsequent agency action").
459
Page: Index Previous 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007