Washington State Health Facilities, Ass'n v. Washington, Department of Social & Health Services

This case concerns the establishment of the effective date of an amendment to the Washington State Medicaid Plan. The Department of Social and Health Services of the State of Washington (“DSHS”) adopted a regulation that changed the method of reimbursement to health care providers under the federally adopted Washington State Medicaid Plan. In an earlier decision, we held that in order to implement that regulation it was necessary to submit an amendment to the state medicaid plan to the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and obtain its approval. 1 Under the pertinent federal regulations, HHS determines the effective date of a new plan, which cannot be earlier than the beginning of the quarter in which an “approvable plan” is submitted to it. The crux of this litigation is the determination of the effective date of the amended plan. This, in turn, depends upon when an approvable plan was submitted. We uphold the HHS’s determination of the effective date and *679 thus reverse the judgment of the district court.

I.

FACTS

In July 1979, DSHS adopted a new state regulation, WAC 388-96-222(2)(d)(ii), which changed the method of reimbursement to health care…