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No.
CV04-1691 (W.D. Wash.), filed July 30, 2004
Updated:
January 3, 2008
Issue: Whether regulations that authorize states to allow Medicare and
Medicaid certified nursing facilities to hire feeding assistants with eight
hours of training violate the Nursing Home Reform Law or the Administrative
Procedure Act.
Relief sought: A declaratory judgment that the regulations are invalid and a
permanent injunction prohibiting their enforcement.
Status: The complaint was filed July 30, 2004,
and an amended complaint naming individual and organizational plaintiffs
from Michigan was filed on October 28, 2004. Shortly after the Secretary
filed an answer and a document purporting to be the Administrative Record, the
American Health Care Association (AHCA) moved to intervene as a defendant as of
right, or, alternatively, by permission of the court. On January 25, 2005, the
Court denied the motion to intervene.
The Secretary's motion to dismiss on standing grounds was granted in part and
denied in part, with the court concluding that the two Washington organizations
had standing to pursue the claims. 2005 WL 1027123 (W.D.
Wash 2005)
On September 8, 2005, however, the court ruled in the government's favor
on the merits. It held that the key statutory term -- "nursing or
nursing-related services" -- was sufficiently ambiguous that the court should
defer to the Secretary's interpretation, and that the Secretary's regulation was
not arbitrary and capricious and therefore did not violate the APA.
On August 31, 2007, after oral argument, the Court of Appeals affirmed
the decision of the district court, holding that the language of the
statute was sufficiently ambiguous that the Court should defer to the
Secretary's interpretation as set out in the new feeding assistant
regulation.
500 F.3d 1025 (9th Cir. 2007).
The plaintiffs did not seek review of the Court of Appeals' decision.
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