Supreme Court Decision Syllabus (scotus)

Send us a textIn Advocate Christ Medical Center v. Kennedy, the Supreme Court addressed how to calculate the Medicare “disproportionate share hospital” (DSH) adjustment—a statutory formula that provides extra funding to hospitals serving many low-income patients. At issue was how to interpret the term “entitled to [SSI] benefits” in the Medicare fraction of that formula. A coalition of over 200 hospitals argued that this phrase should include all patients enrolled in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) system, regardless of whether they actually received SSI payments during the month of their hospital stay. The Department of Health and Human Services, by contrast, only counted patients who were actually eligible for a cash SSI payment during their hospitalization month.Writing for the Court, Justice Barrett rejected the hospitals’ broader interpretation. The Court held that a person is “entitled to SSI benefits” only if they are eligible for a cash SSI payment during the specific month of their hospital st