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The Scrivener's Error: How Bankruptcy Judges Overrule Health Experts On Medicare Decisions, Nicolas C. Oehler

Akron Law Review

There is a circuit split over the interpretation of 42 U.S.C. § 405(h), which requires providers to exhaust their remedies with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) before proceeding to court. This split originates from a recodification that omitted several jurisdictional grants from § 405(h), leaving courts to decide whether to continue interpreting the statute as Congress intended or begin interpreting the statute’s plain language. Complicating this split, a backlog of claims in HHS’s appeal systems prevents speedy adjudication. This delay leaves providers searching for other adjudicatory options for their Medicare claims, such as bankruptcy courts.

As initially …