Council for Urological Interests v. Burwell, No. Henderson (D.C. Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseThe Secretary issued regulations that effectively prohibit physicians who lease medical equipment to hospitals from referring their Medicare patients to these same hospitals for outpatient care involving that equipment. The association challenged the regulations as exceeding the Secretary's statutory authority and violating the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 500 et seq., and the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601-612. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Secretary. Although one majority agrees with the district court that the statute is ambiguous as to the regulation of leases that charge on a per-use basis, a different majority concludes that the Secretary’s explanation for prohibiting these leases is unreasonable; the court unanimously concludes that the Secretary’s interpretation of the statute to apply to the physician-groups performing the procedures is reasonable, and that the Secretary complied with the RFA; and therefore, the court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded to the district court with instructions to remand the regulation relating to leases charging by use to the Secretary for further proceedings.
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