2011 Decisions

Opinions of the United

States Court of Appeals

for the Third Circuit

1-14-2011

Cooper Univ Hosp v. Secretary HHS

Precedential or Non-Precedential: Precedential

Docket No. 09-4095

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http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2011/1885
1

PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

____________ 

No. 09-4095

____________ 

COOPER UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

 Appellant

v.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS,

Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services

Pursuant to F.R.A.P. 43(c)

____________ 

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT 

COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

(D.C. Civil No. 1-08-cv-03781)

District Judge: Honorable Jerome B. Simandle

____________ 

Argued: September 15, 2010

____________ 

Before: SLOVITER, BARRY and SMITH, Circuit Judges

(Opinion Filed: October 12, 2010)

____________ 

Mark H. Gallant, Esq. (Argued)

Judy Wang Mayer, Esq. 

Cozen & O'Connor 

1900 Market Street 

3rd Floor 

Philadelphia, PA 19103-0000 

-and-
2

Thomas McKay, III, Esq. 

Cozen & O'Connor 

457 Haddonfield Road 

Liberty View, Suite 300 

Cherry Hill, NJ 08002-0000 

Counsel for Appellant

Anthony J. Steinmeyer, Esq. (Argued)

August E. Flentje, Esq. 

United States Department of Justice 

Civil Division 

Room 7529 

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. 

Washington, DC 20530-0000 

-andDavid L. Hoskins, Esq. 

Department of Health & Human Services 

Health Care Financing Division 

330 Independence Avenue, S.W. 

Cohen Building 

Washington, DC 20201-0000 

-andElizabeth A. Pascal, Esq. 

Office of the United States Attorney 

Camden Federal Building & Courthouse 

401 Market Street 

P.O. Box 2098, 4th Floor 

Camden, NJ 08101-0000 

Counsel for Appellee

____________ 

OPINION OF THE COURT

____________ 

BARRY, Circuit Judge
3

Cooper University Hospital has appealed the grant of 

summary judgment in favor of Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary 

of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in this 

very complex and very important matter. The case before the 

Hon. Jerome B. Simandle, and now the appeal before us, 

involved the amount of Medicare reimbursement that Cooper 

University Hospital – a hospital in Camden, New Jersey, with 

a large low-income patient population – receives from the 

federal government for serving a disproportionate share of 

low-income patients. Resolution of the difficult legal issue 

presented required an analysis of the interaction between, and 

the intersection of, the Medicare and Medicaid statutes, 

described by a sister court as being “among the most 

completely impenetrable texts within human experience.” 

Rehab. Ass’n of Va., Inc. v. Kozlowski, 42 F.3d 1440, 1450 

(4th Cir. 1994). Resolution of this issue will affect hospitals 

well beyond the one hospital party to this case. 

We have carefully considered the record and the 

submissions of the parties, and have heard oral argument. We 

have paid particular attention to the patience and skill with 

which Judge Simandle has handled this case from its very 

inception until its conclusion, when he rendered an Opinion 

that thoughtfully, thoroughly, and articulately decided what 

had to be decided. We could not do it better, and we will not 

try. Suffice it to say, substantially for the reasons set forth in 

Judge Simandle’s excellent Opinion of September 28, 2009, 

we will affirm.