Cite as: 522 U. S. 448 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
unreasonable to demand that providers "reprove" their base-year GME costs. We note these countervailing considerations. Providers can challenge the accuracy of specific auditing principles in individual cases. 42 CFR § 413.86(e) (1)(v) (1996). Providers dissatisfied with the Secretary's determination may seek judicial review under 42 U. S. C. § 1395oo(f)(1). For providers who discarded their 1984 records, the Secretary offered "an equitable solution" permitting them, during the reaudit, "to furnish documentation from cost reporting periods subsequent to the base period in support of the allocation of physician compensation costs in the GME bas[e] period." See 55 Fed. Reg. 36063 (1990).7 Furthermore, the reaudit rule allowed providers to request upward adjustment in their reimbursable PPS hospital-specific rate if the GME reaudit revealed previously claimed GME costs that should have been classified as operating costs eligible for PPS reimbursement. 42 CFR § 413.86( j) (1)(i) (1996).
Finally, the Hospital argues that because 42 CFR §§ 405.1807 and 405.1885(a) (1996) render an intermediary's determination "final and binding" after three years, the Secretary's reaudit regulation violates principles of issue preclusion. The initial 1984 GME cost determination, however, was made under the pre-GME Amendment regime, when "final and binding" referred only to year-by-year determination. An issue determined for one year (1984 only) is not the same as a base-year determination to be carried forward into the unlimited future. Furthermore, the base-year cost calculation was derived from an intermediary's determination in an NAPR, without a hearing before the PRRB on the reasonableness of the costs. Absent actual and adversarial
7 In fact, the Hospital took advantage of the Secretary's "equitable solution." Because the Hospital did not maintain base-year records reflecting physician time for teaching medical students, it used 1989 and 1990 time studies in endeavoring to establish the accuracy of its allocation of 1984 GME costs.
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