1 (Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2012

Syllabus

NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.


## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Syllabus

SEBELIUS, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES v . AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL
CENTER ET AL

.

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

No. 11–1231. Argued December 4, 2012—Decided January 22, 2013

The reimbursement amount health ca re providers receive for inpatient

services rendered to Medicare bene ficiaries is adjusted upward for hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients. The adjustment amount is determined in part by the percentage of a hospital’s patients who are eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), called the SSI fraction. Each year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) calculates the SSI fraction for an eligible hospital and submits that number to the hospital’s “fiscal intermedi

ary,” a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contractor. The intermediary computes the re imbursement amount due and then sends the hospital a Notice of Program Reimbursement (NPR). A provider dissatisfied with the determination has a right to appeal to
the Provider Reimbursement Review Board (PRRB or Board) within 180 days of receiving the NPR. 42 U. S. C. §1395 oo (a)(3). By regula

tion, the Secretary of HHS author ized the PRRB to extend the 180

- day limit, for good cause, up to three years. See 42 CFR 405.1841(b) (2007). The Baystate Medical Center—n ot a party here—timely appealed

its SSI fraction calculation for each year from 1993 through 1996.
The PRRB found that errors in CM S’s methodology resulted in a sys

tematic undercalculation of the disproportionate share adjustment and corresponding underpayments to providers. In March 2006, the
Board’s Baystate decision was made public. Within 180 days, re

spondent hospitals filed a compla int with the Board, challenging their adjustments for 1987 through 1994. Acknowledging that their challenges were more than a decade out of time, they urged that eq

-2 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Syllabus

uitable tolling of the limitations pe riod was in order due to CMS’s failure to tell them about the computation error. The PRRB held that it lacked jurisdiction, reasoning that it had no equitable powers save those legislation or regulation migh t confer. On judicial review, the District Court dismissed the hospitals’ claims. The D. C. Circuit re

versed. The presumption that stat utory limitations periods are gen

erally subject to equitable tolling, the court concluded, applied to the 180-day time limit because nothing in §1395 oo (a)(3) indicated that Congress intended to disallow such tolling.

Held : 1. The 180-day limitation in §1395 oo (a)(3) is not “jurisdictional.” Pp. 6–9. (a) Unless Congress has “clearly state[d]” that a statutory limita

tion is jurisdictional, the restrict ion should be treated “as nonjuris

dictional.” Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp. , 546 U. S. 500, 515–516. “[C]ontext, including this Court’s in terpretations of similar provisions in many years past,” is probativ e of whether Congress intended a particular provision to rank as jurisdictional. Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick , 559 U. S. ___, ___. If §1395 oo (a)(3) were jurisdictional, the 180-day time limit could not be enlarged by agency or court.
Section 1395 oo (a)(3) hardly reveals a desi gn to preclude any regu

latory extension. The provision in structs that a provider “may obtain a hearing” by filing “a request . . . within 180 days after notice of the intermediary’s final determination.” It “does not speak in jurisdic

tional terms.” Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. , 455 U. S. 385, 394. This Court has repeatedly held that filing deadlines ordinarily are not jurisdictional; indeed, they have been described as “quintessen

tial claim-processing rules.” Henderson v. Shinseki , 562 U. S. ___, ___. Pp. 6–8. (b) Court-appointed amicus urges that §1395 oo (a)(3) should be classified as a jurisdictional requ irement based on its proximity to §§1395 oo (a)(1) and (a)(2), both juri sdictional requirements, amicus asserts. But a requirement that would otherwise be nonjurisdictional does not become jurisdictional simply because it is in a section of a statute that also contains jurisdictional provisions. Gonzalez v. Tha

ler , 565 U. S. ___, ___. Amicus also urges that the Medicare Act’s ex

press grant of authority for the Secre tary to extend the time for bene

ficiary appeals implies the absence of such leeway for §1395 oo (a)(3)’s provider appeals. In support, amicus relies on the general rule that Congress’s use of “certain language in one part of the statute and dif

ferent language in another” can in dicate that “different meanings were intended,” Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain , 542 U. S. 692, 711, n. 9. But that interpretive guide, like other canons of construction, is “no more than [a] rul[e] of thumb” that can tip the scales when a statute3 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

Syllabus

could be read in multiple ways. Connecticut Nat. Bank v. Germain

, 503 U. S. 249, 253. Here, §1395 oo (a)’s limitation is most sensibly characterized as nonjurisdictional. Pp. 8–9.

2. The Secretary’s regulation is a permissible interpretation of §1395 oo (a)(3). Pp. 10–14. (a) Congress vested in the Secretary large rulemaking authority to administer Medicare. A court lacks authority to undermine the Secretary’s regime unless her regulation is “arbitrary, capricious, or manifestly contrary to the statute.” Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. , 467 U. S. 837, 844. Here, the regula

tion survives inspection under that deferential standard. The Secre

tary brought to bear practical expe rience in superintending the huge program generally, and the PRRB in particular, in maintaining a three-year outer limit for intermed iary determination challenges. A court must uphold her judgment as long as it is a permissible con

struction of the statute, even if the court would have interpreted the statute differently absent agency regulation. Pp. 10–11. (b) A presumption of equitable tolling generally applies to suits against the United States, Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs

, 498 U.S. 89, 95–96, but application of this presumption is not in or

der for §1395 oo (a)(3). This Court has never applied Irwin ’s presump

tion to an agency’s internal appeal deadline. The presumption was adopted in part on the premise that “[s]uch a principle is likely to be a realistic assessment of legislative intent.” Irwin , 498 U. S., at 95. That premise is inapt in the contex t of providers’ administrative ap

peals under the Medicare Act. For nearly 40 years the Secretary has prohibited the Board from extendin g the 180-day deadline, except as provided by regulation. In the six times §1395 oo has been amended since 1974, Congress has left untouched the 180-day provision and the Secretary’s rulemaking authority. Furthermore, the statutory scheme, which applies to sophisticate d institutional providers, is not designed to be “ ‘unusually protective’ of claimants.” Bowen v. City of
New York , 476 U. S. 467, 480. Nor is the scheme one “in which lay

men, unassisted by trained lawyers, initiate the process.” Zipes , 455
U. S., at 397.

The hospitals ultimately argue th at the Secretary’s regulations fail to adhere to “fundamentals of fair play.” FCC v. Pottsville Broadcast

ing Co. , 309 U. S. 134, 143. They point to 42 CFR §405.1885(b)(3), which permits reopening of an in termediary’s reimbursement deter

mination “at any time” if the determination was procured by fraud or fault of the provider. But this Court has explained that giving inter

mediaries more time to discover overpayments than providers have to discover underpayments may be justified by the “administrative real

ities” of the system: a few dozen fiscal intermediaries are charged4 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Syllabus

with issuing tens of thousands of NPRs, while each provider can con

centrate on a single NPR, its own. Your Home Visiting Nurse Ser

vices, Inc. v. Shalala , 525 U. S. 449, 455, 456. Pp. 11–14.

642 F. 3d 1145, reversed and remanded.

G INSBURG

, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. S OTOMAYOR

, J., filed a concurring opinion._________________

_________________ 1 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

Opinion of the Court

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash

ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press.


## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

No. 11–1231

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, PETITIONER v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER ET AL

.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

[January 22, 2013]

J USTICE G INSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case concerns the time within which health care providers may file an administrative appeal from the
initial determination of the reimbursement due them for inpatient services rendered to Medicare beneficiaries. Government contractors, called fiscal intermediaries, receive cost reports annually from care providers and notify them of the reimbursement amount for which they qualify. A provider dissatisfied with the fiscal intermedi

ary’s determination may appeal to an administrative body
named the Provider Reimburse ment Review Board (PRRB or Board). The governing statute, §602(h)(l)(D), 97 Stat. 165, 42 U. S. C. §1395 oo (a)(3), sets a 180-day limit for filing appeals from the fiscal intermediary to the PRRB. By a regulation promulgated in 1974, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) author

ized the Board to extend the 180-day limitation, for good cause, up to three years. 1

——————

1 The agency was called the Departme nt of Health, Education, and Welfare until 1979, but for simplicity’s sake we refer to it as HHS2 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Opinion of the Court

The providers in this case are hospitals who appealed to the PRRB more than ten years after expiration of the 180

- day statutory deadline. They assert that the Secretary’s
failure to disclose information that made the fiscal inter

mediary’s reimbursement calculation incorrect prevented them from earlier appealing to the Board. Three positions have been briefed and argued regarding the time for pro

viders’ appeals to the PRRB. First, a Court-appointed

amicus curiae has urged that the 180-day limitation is “jurisdictional,” and therefore cannot be enlarged at all by agency or court. Second, the Government maintains that the Secretary has the prerogative to set an outer limit ofthree years for appeals to the Board. And third, the hospitals argue that the doctrine of equitable tolling applies, stopping the 180-day clock during the time the Secretary
concealed the information that made the fiscal intermediary’s reimbursement determinations incorrect. We hold that the statutory 180-day limitation is not “jurisdictional,” and that the Secretary reasonably con

strued the statute to permit a regulation extending the time for a provider’s appeal to the PRRB to three years. We further hold that the presumption in favor of equitable tolling does not apply to admi nistrative appeals of the
kind here at issue.

I
The Medicare program covers certain inpatient services that hospitals provide to Medi care beneficiaries. Provid

ers are reimbursed at a fixed amount per patient, regard

less of the actual operating costs they incur in rendering

these services. But the total reimbursement amount is adjusted upward for hospitals that serve a disproportion

ate share of low-income patients. This adjustment is made because hospitals with an unusually high percent

-

—————— throughout this opinion.3 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

Opinion of the Court

age of low-income patients generally have higher per

patient costs; such hospitals, Congress therefore found, should receive higher reimbursement rates. See H. R. Rep. No. 99–241, pt. 1, p. 16 (1985). The amount of the disproportionate share adjustment is determined in part by the percentage of the patients served by the hospital who are eligible for Suppleme ntal Security Income (SSI) payments, a percentage commonly called the SSI fraction. 42 U. S. C. §1395ww(d) (2006 ed. and Supp. V). At the end of each year, providers participating in Medi

care submit cost reports to contractors acting on behalf of HHS known as fiscal intermediaries. Also at year end,the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) calculates the SSI fraction for each eligible hospital and submits that number to the intermediary for that hospital. Using these numbers to determine the total payment due, the intermediary issues a Notice of Program Reimburse

ment (NPR) informing the prov ider how much it will be paid for the year. If a provider is dissatisfied with the intermediary’s re

imbursement determination, the statute gives it the right to file a request for a hear ing before the PRRB within 180 days of receiving the NPR. §1395 oo (a)(3) (2006 ed.) In 1974, the Secretary promulgated a regulation, after notice and comment rulemaking , permitting the Board to extend the 180-day time limit upon a showing of good cause; the regulation further provides that “no such exten

sion shall be granted by the Board if such request is filed more than 3 years after the date the notice of the interme

diary’s determination is mailed to the provider.” 39 Fed. Reg. 34517 (1974) (codified in 42 CFR §405.1841(b) (2007)). 2

——————

2 In 2008, after this case commenced, the Secretary replaced the 1974 regulation with a new prescription lim iting “good cause” to “extraordi

nary circumstances beyond [the provid er’s] control (such as a natural or4 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Opinion of the Court

For many years, CMS released only the results of its SSI fraction calculations and not the underlying data. 3 The Baystate Medical Center—a hospital not party to this case—timely appealed the calculation of its SSI fraction for each year from 1993 through 1996. Eventually, the PRRB determined that CMS had omitted several catego

ries of SSI data from its calculations and was using a flawed process to determine the number of low-income beneficiaries treated by hospitals. These errors caused a systematic undercalculation of the disproportionate share adjustment, resulting in underpa yments to the providers. Baystate Medical Center v. Leavitt , 545 F. Supp. 2d 20, 26–30 (DC 2008); see id., at 57–58 (concluding that CMS failed to use “the best available data”). The methodological errors revealed by the Board’s Bay

state decision would have yielded similarly reduced pay

ments to all providers for which CMS had calculated an SSI fraction. In March 2006, the Board’s decision in

the Baystate case was made public. Within 180 days, the hospitals in this case filed a complaint with the Board seeking to challenge their disproportionate share adjust

ments for the years 1987 through 1994. The hospitals acknowledged that their c hallenges, unlike Baystate’s timely contest, were more t han a decade out of time. But equitable tolling of the limitations period was in order, they urged, due to CMS’s failure to inform the hospitals

—————— other catastrophe, fire, or strike).” 73 Fed. Reg. 30250 (2008) (codified in 42 CFR §405.1836(b) (2012)). The new regulation retains the strict three-year cutoff for all claims. §405.1836(c)(2). The parties agree that this case is governed by the 1974 regulation, and our opinion today addresses only that regulation.

3 In §951 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Mod

ernization Act of 2003, 117 Stat. 2427, Congress required the Secretary to furnish hospitals with the data necessary to compute their own disproportionate share adjustment. Pursuant to this congressional mandate, the Secretary has adopted procedures for turning over the SSI data to hospitals upon request. 70 Fed. Reg. 47438 (2005).5 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

Opinion of the Court

that their SSI fractions had been based on faulty data. The PRRB held that it lacked jurisdiction over the hospitals’ complaint, reasonin g that it had no equitable powers save those legislation or regulation might confer, and that the Secretary’s regula tion permitted it to excuse late appeals only for good cause, with three years as the outer limit. On judicial re view, the District Court dis

missed the hospitals’ claims for relief, holding that noth

ing in the statute suggests that “Congress intended to authorize equitable tolling.” 686 F. Supp. 2d 55, 70 (DC 2010). The Court of Appeals reversed. 642 F. 3d 1145 (CADC 2011). It relied on the presumption that statutory limita

tions periods are generally subject to equitable tolling and
reasoned that “ ‘the same rebuttable presumption of equi

table tolling applicable to suits against private defendants should also apply to suits against the United States.’ ” Id., at 1148 (quoting Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs

, 498 U. S. 89, 95–96 (1990)). The presumption appliesto the 180-day time limit for provider appeals from reimbursement determinations, the Court of Appeals held, finding nothing in the statutory provision for PRRB re

view indicating that Congress intended to disallow equitable tolling. 642 F. 3d, at 1149–1151. We granted the Secretary’s petition for certiorari, 567

U. S. ___ (2012), to resolve a conflict among the Courts of Appeals over whether the 180-day time limit in 42 U. S. C. §1395 oo (a)(3) constricts the Board’s jurisdiction. Compare 642 F. 3d 1145 (case below); Western Medical Enterprises,

Inc. v. Heckler , 783 F. 2d 1376, 1379–1380 (CA9 1986) (180-day limit is not jurisdictional and the Secretary may extend it for good cause), with Alacare Home Health Servs., Inc. v. Sullivan , 891 F. 2d 850, 855–856 (CA11 1990) (statute of limitations is jurisdictional and the Sec

retary lacked authority to promulgate good-cause excep

tion); St. Joseph’s Hospital of Kansas City v. Heckler , 7866 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Opinion of the Court

F. 2d 848, 852–853 (CA8 1986) (same). Beyond the juris

dictional inquiry, 4 the Secretary asked us to determine whether the Court of Appeals erred in concluding that equitable tolling applies to providers’ Medicare reim

bursement appeals to the PRRB, notwithstanding the Secretary’s regulation barring such appeals after three

years.

II
A
Characterizing a rule as jurisdictional renders it uniquein our adversarial system. Objections to a tribunal’s jurisdiction can be raised at any time, even by a party that once conceded the tribunal’s subject-matter jurisdiction over the controversy. Tardy jurisdictional objections can therefore result in a waste of adjudicatory resources and can disturbingly disarm litigants. See Henderson v. Shinseki , 562 U. S. ___, ___ (2011) (slip op., at 5); Arbaugh

v. Y & H Corp. , 546 U. S. 500, 514 (2006). With these untoward consequences in mind, “we have tried in recent cases to bring some discipline to the use” of the term “jurisdiction.” Henderson , 562 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 5);

see also Steel Co. v. Citizens for Better Environment , 523
U. S. 83, 90 (1998) (jurisdiction has been a “word of many, too many, meanings” (internal quotation marks omitted)). To ward off profligate use of the term “jurisdiction,” we have adopted a “readily admi nistrable bright line” for determining whether to classify a statutory limitation as jurisdictional. Arbaugh , 546 U. S., at 516. We inquire whether Congress has “clearly state[d]” that the rule is jurisdictional; absent such a clear statement, we have

——————

4 Because no party takes the view that the statutory 180-day time limit is jurisdictional, we appointe d John F. Manning to brief and argue this position as amicus curiae . 567 U. S. ___ (2012). Amicus Manning has ably discharged his assigned responsibilities and the Court thanks him for his well-stated arguments.7 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

Opinion of the Court

cautioned, “courts should treat the restriction as nonjuris

dictional in character.” Id., at 515–516; see also Gonzalez

v. Thaler , 565 U. S. ___, ___ (2012) (slip op., at 6); Hender

son , 562 U. S.

, at ___ (slip op., at 6). This is not to say that Congress must incant magic words in order to speak clearly. We consider “context, including this Court’s inter

pretations of similar provisions in many years past,” as probative of whether Congress intended a particular provision to rank as jurisdictional. Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick , 559 U. S. 154, 168 (2010); see also John R.
Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States , 552 U. S. 130, 133– 134 (2008).

We reiterate what it would mean were we to type the gov

erning statute, 42 U. S. C. §1395 oo (a)(3), “jurisdictional.”Under no circumstance could providers engage PRRB review more than 180 days after notice of the fiscal intermediary’s final determination. Not only could there be no equitable tolling. The Secretary’s regulation providing for a good-cause extension, see supra, at 3, would fall as well. The language Congress used hardly reveals a design to preclude any regulatory extension. Section 1395 oo (a)(3) instructs that a provider of services “may obtain a hear

ing” by the Board regarding its reimbursement amount if “such provider files a request for a hearing within 180 days after notice of the in termediary’s final determina

tion.” This provision “does not speak in jurisdictional
terms.” Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. , 455 U. S. 385, 394 (1982). Indeed, it is less “jurisdictional” in tone than the provision we held to be nonjurisdictional in Henderson

. There, the statute provided that a veteran seeking Veter

ans Court review of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ determination of disability benefits “ shall file a notice of appeal . . . within 120 days.” 562 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 9) (quoting 38 U. S. C. §7266(a) (emphasis added)). Sec

tion 1395 oo (a)(3), by contrast, contains neither the manda

tory word “shall” nor the appellation “notice of appeal,”8 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Opinion of the Court

words with jurisdictional import in the context of 28

U. S. C. §2107’s limitations on the time for appeal from a district court to a court of appeals. See Bowles v. Russell

, 551 U. S. 205, 214 (2007). Key to our decision, we have repeatedly held that filing deadlines ordinarily are not jurisdictional; indeed, we have described them as “quintessential claim-processing rules.” Henderson, 562 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 6); see also Scar

borough v. Principi , 541 U. S. 401, 414 (2004) (filing dead

line for fee applications under Equal Access to Justice Act); Kontrick v. Ryan , 540 U. S. 443, 454 (2004) (filing deadlines for objecting to debtor’s discharge in bank

ruptcy); Honda v. Clark , 386 U. S. 484, 498 (1967) (filing deadline for claims under the Trading with the Enemy Act). This case is scarcely the exceptional one in which a “cen

tury’s worth of precedent and practice in American courts” rank a time limit as jurisdictional. Bowles , 551 U. S., at 209, n. 2; cf. Kontrick , 540 U. S., at 454 (a time limitation may be emphatic, yet not jurisdictional).

B

Amicus urges that the three requirements in §1395 oo (a) are specifications that togeth er define the limits of the PRRB’s jurisdiction. Subsection (a)(1) specifies the claims providers may bring to the Board, and subsection (a)(2) sets forth an amount-in-controversy requirement. These are jurisdictional requirements, amicus asserts, so we should read the third specification, subsection (a)(3)’s 180-day limitation, as also setting a jurisdictional requirement. Last Term, we rejected a similar proximity-based argu

ment. A requirement we would otherwise classify as nonjurisdictional, we held, does not become jurisdictional simply because it is placed in a section of a statute that also contains jurisdictional provisions. Gonzalez , 565
U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 11); see Weinberger v. Salfi , 4229 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

Opinion of the Court

U. S. 749, 763–764 (1975) (statutory provision at issue contained three requirements for judicial review, only one of which was jurisdictional).

Amicus also argues that the 180-day time limit for provider appeals to the PRRB should be viewed as jurisdic

tional because Congress could have expressly made the provision nonjurisdictional, and indeed did so for other
time limits in the Medicare Act. Amicus notes particularly
that when Medicare benefici aries request the Secretary to reconsider a benefits determination, the statute gives them a time limit of 180 days or “such additional time as the Secretary may allow.” 42 U. S. C. §1395ff(b)(1)(D)(i); see also §1395ff(b)(1)(D)(ii) (permitting Medicare benefi

ciary to request a hearing by the Secretary within “time limits” the Secretary “shall establish in regulations”). We have recognized, as a general rule, that Congress’s use of “certain language in one part of the statute and different language in another” can indicate that “different meanings
were intended.” Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain , 542 U. S. 692, 711, n. 9 (2004) (internal quotation marks omitted). Ami

cus notes this general rule in urging that an express grant of authority for the Secretary to extend the time for bene

ficiary appeals implies the absence of such leeway for provider appeals. But the interpretive guide just identified, like other canons of construction, is “no more than [a] rul[e] of thumb” that can tip the scales when a statute could be read in multiple ways. Connecticut Nat. Bank v. Germain

, 503 U. S. 249, 253 (1992). For the reasons earlier stated,

see supra, at 6–8, we are persuaded that the time limitation in §1395 oo (a) is most sensibly characterized as a nonjurisdictional prescription. The limitation therefore
does not bar the modest extension contained in the Secre

tary’s regulation.10 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Opinion of the Court

III
We turn now to the question whether §1395 oo (a)(3)’s 180-day time limit for a provider to appeal to the PRRB is subject to equitable tolling.

A
Congress vested in the Secretary large rulemaking authority to administer the Medicare program. The PRRB may adopt rules and procedures only if “not inconsistent” with the Medicare Act or “regu lations of the Secretary.” 42 U. S. C. §1395 oo (e). Concerning the 180-day period for an appeal to the Board from an intermediary’s reim

bursement determination, the Secretary’s regulation implementing §1395 oo , adopted after notice and comment, speaks in no uncertain terms:

“A request for a Board hearing filed after [the 180-day time limit] shall be dismissed by the Board, except that for good cause shown, the time limit may be ex

tended. However, no such extension shall be granted by the Board if such request is filed more than 3 years after the date the notice of the intermediary’s deter

mination is mailed to the provider.” 42 CFR §405.1841(b) (2007).

The Secretary allowed only a distinctly limited exten

sion of time to appeal to the PRRB, cognizant that “the Board is burdened by an immense caseload,” and that “procedural rules requiring timely filings are indispens

able devices for keeping the machinery of the reimburse

ment appeals process running smoothly.” High Country Home Health, Inc. v. Thompson , 359 F. 3d 1307, 1310 (CA10 2004). Imposing equitable tolling to permit appeals barred by the Secretary’s regu lation would essentially gut the Secretary’s requirement t hat an appeal to the Board “shall be dismissed” if filed more than 180 days after the NPR, unless the provider show s “good cause” and requests11 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

Opinion of the Court

an extension no later than three years after the NPR. A court lacks authority to under mine the regime established by the Secretary unless her regulation is “arbitrary, capri

cious, or manifestly contrary to the statute.” Chevron

U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.

, 467 U. S. 837, 844 (1984). The Secretary’s regulation, we are satisfied, survives inspection under that deferential standard. As HHS has explained, “[i]t is in the interest of providers and the pro

gram that, at some point, intermediary determinations and the resulting amount of program payment due the provider or the program become no longer open to correc

tion.” CMS, Medicare: Provider Reimbursement Manual, pt. 1, ch. 29, §2930, p. 29–73 (rev. no. 372, 2011); cf. Taylor

v. Freeland & Kronz , 503 U. S. 638, 644 (1992) (“Deadlines may lead to unwelcome results, but they prompt parties to act and produce finality.”). The Secretary brought tobear practical experience in superintending the huge program generally, and the PRRB in particular, in maintaining three years as the outer limit. A court must uphold the Secretary’s judgment as long as it is a permissible con

struction of the statute, even if it differs from how the court would have interpreted the statute in the absence of an agency regulation. National Cable & Telecommunica

tions Assn. v. Brand X Internet Services , 545 U. S. 967, 980 (2005); see also Chevron , 467 U. S., at 843, n. 11.

B
Rejecting the Secretary’s po sition, the Court of Appeals relied principally on this Court’s decision in Irwin, 498
U. S., at 95–96. Irwin concerned the then 30-day time period for filing suit against a federal agency under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U. S. C. §2000e– 16(c) (1988 ed.). We held in Irwin that “the same rebuttable presumption of equitabl e tolling applicable to suits against private defendants should also apply to suits12 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Opinion of the Court

against the United States.” 498 U. S., at 95–96. Irwin itself, and equitable-tolling ca ses we have considered both pre- and post- Irwin , have generally involved time limits for filing suit in federal court. See, e.g. , Holland v. Flor

ida , 560 U. S. ___ (2010) (one-year limitation for filing application for writ of habeas corpus); Rotella v. Wood , 528
U. S. 549 (2000) (four-year period for filing civil RICO suit); United States v. Beggerly , 524 U. S. 38 (1998) (12

- year period to bring suit under Quiet Title Act); Lampf, Pleva, Lipkind, Prupis & Petigrow v. Gilbertson , 501 U. S. 350 (1991) (one- and three-year periods for commencing civil action under §10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934); Honda v. Clark , 386 U. S. 484 (1967) (60-day period for filing suit under Trading with the Enemy Act); Kendall

v. United States , 107 U. S. 123 (1883) (six-year period for filing suit in Court of Claims). Courts in those cases ren

dered in the first instance the decision whether equity required tolling. This case is of a different order. We have never applied

the Irwin presumption to an agency’s internal appeal deadline, here the time a provider has to appeal an inter

mediary’s reimbursement determination to the PRRB. Cf.
United States v. Brockamp , 519 U. S. 347, 350 (1997) (assuming, arguendo , that Irwin presumption applied to time limit for filing an admini strative claim for a tax refund, but concluding based on statutory text, structure, and purpose that there was “good reason to believe that Congress did not want the equitable tolling doctrine to apply”). The presumption of equitable tolling was adopted in part on the premise that “[s]uch a principle is likely to be a realistic assessment of legislative intent.” Irwin , 498
U. S., at 95. But that premise is inapt in the context of providers’ administrative appeals under the Medicare Act. The Act, until 1972, provided no avenue for providers to obtain administrative or judicial review. When Congress13 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

Opinion of the Court

first directed the Secretary to establish the PRRB, Con

gress simultaneously imposed the 180-day deadline, with no statutory exceptions. Fo r nearly 40 years the Secretary has prohibited the Board from extending that dead

line, except as provided by regulation. And until the D. C. Circuit’s decision in this case, no court had ever read equitable tolling into §1395 oo (a)(3) or the Secretary’s implementation of that provision. Congress amended §1395 oo six times since 1974, each time leaving untouched the 180-day administrative appeal provision and the Secretary’s rulemaking authori ty. At no time did Con

gress express disapproval of the three-year outer time limit set by the Secretary for an extension upon a showing of good cause. See Commodity Futures Trading Comm’n v. Schor , 478 U. S. 833, 846 (1986) (“[W]hen Congress revisits a statute giving rise to a longstanding administrative interpretation without pertine nt change, the congressional failure to revise or repeal the agency’s interpretation is persuasive evidence that the interpretation is the one in

tended by Congress.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). We note, furthermore, that unlike the remedial statutes at issue in many of this Court’s equitable-tolling decisions,

see Irwin , 498 U. S., at 91; Bowen v. City of New York , 476
U. S. 467, 480 (1986); Zipes , 455 U. S., at 398, the statutory scheme before us is not designed to be “ ‘unusually protective’ of claimants.” Bowen , 476 U. S., at 480. Nor is it one “in which laymen, unassisted by trained lawyers, initiate the process.” Zipes , 455 U. S., at 397 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Medicare payment system in question applies to “sophi sticated” institutional providers assisted by legal counsel, and “generally capable of identifying an underpayment in [their] own NPR within the 180-day time period specified in 42 U. S. C. §1395 oo (a)(3).” Your Home Visiting Nurse Services, Inc. v. Shalala , 525 U. S. 449, 456 (1999). As repeat players who elect to participate in the Medicare system, providers can14 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Opinion of the Court

hardly claim lack of notice of the Secretary’s regulations. The hospitals ultimately argue that the Secretary’s regulations fail to adhere to the “fundamentals of fair play.” FCC v. Pottsville Broadcasting Co. , 309 U. S. 134, 143 (1940). They point, particularly, to 42 CFR §405.1885(b)(3) (2012), which permits reopening of an intermediary’s reimbursement determination “at any time
if it is established that such determination . . . was procured by fraud or similar fault of any party to the
determination.” 5 We considered a similar alleged inequity in Your Home and explained that it was justified by the “administrative realities” of the provider re imbursement appeal system. 525 U. S., at 455. There are only a few dozen fiscal inter

mediaries and they are charged with issuing tens of thou

sands of NPRs, while each provider can concentrate on a single NPR, its own. Id., at 456. The Secretary, Your
Home concluded, could reasonably believe that this asym

metry justifies giving the intermediaries more time to discover overpayments than th e providers have to discover underpayments. Moreover, the fraud exception allowing indefinite reopening does apply to an intermediary if it “procured” a Board decision by “fraud or similar fault.” Although an intermediary is not a party to its own deter

mination, it does rank as a party in proceedings before the Board. 42 CFR §405.1843(a). 6

——————

5 Because neither the Secretary nor the intermediary counts as a party to the intermediary’s determination, 42 CFR §405.1805, providers alone are subject to this exception to the time limitation.

6 The fraud exception apart, reopening time is limited to three years. §405.1885(a). Within that time, reopening may be sought by the intermediary, the Board, the Secreta ry, or the provider. Thus an intermediary determination or Board decision could not be reopened if, outside the three-year window, the Secretary discovered errors in calculating the SSI fraction that resu lted in overpayments to providers.15 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

Opinion of the Court

* * *
We hold, in sum, that the 180-day statutory deadline for administrative appeals to the PRRB, contained in 42

U. S. C. §1395 oo (a)(3), is not “jurisdictional.” Therefore the Secretary lawfully exerci sed her rulemaking authority in providing for a three-year “good cause” extension. We further hold that the equitable tolling presumption our

Irwin decision approved for suits brought in court does not similarly apply to administrative appeals of the kind here considered, and that the Secretary’s regulation, 42 CFR §405.1841(b), is a permissible interpretation of the

statute. The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is therefore reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered._________________

_________________ 1 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

S OTOMAYOR

, J., concurring



## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

No. 11–1231

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, PETITIONER v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER ET AL

.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

[January 22, 2013]

J USTICE S OTOMAYOR , concurring.
The Court holds that the presumption in favor of equi

table tolling that we adopted in Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs , 498 U. S. 89, 95–96 (1990), does not apply to 42 U. S. C. §1395 oo (a)(3)’s nonjurisdictional 180

- day deadline for health care providers to file administra

tive appeals with the Provider Reimbursement Review Board (PRRB), and that the Secretary’s regulation limit

ing “good cause” extensions of that deadline to three years is a permissible interpretation of the statute. I agree with those holdings and join the Court’s opinion in full. I write separately to note that the Court’s decision in this case does not establish that equitable tolling principles are
irrelevant to internal adminis trative deadlines in all, or
even most, contexts. The Court is correct that our equitable tolling cases have typically involved deadlines to bring suit in federal

court. Ante, at 12. But we have never suggested that the presumption in favor of equitable tolling is generally inapplicable to administrative deadlines. Cf. Henderson v. Shinseki , 562 U. S. ___, ___, n. 4 (2011) (slip op., at 12,

n. 4) (noting that the Government did not dispute whether the statutory filing deadline in the Article I Veterans Court was subject to equitable tolling if the deadline was2 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

S OTOMAYOR

, J., concurring

nonjurisdictional); United States v. Brockamp , 519 U. S. 347, 350–353 (1997) (assuming without deciding that the

Irwin presumption applied to administrative tax refund claims but finding based on statutory text, structure, and the underlying subject matter that tolling was unavail

able); see also ante, at 12 (discussing Brockamp ). And we have previously applied the Irwin presumption outside the context of filing deadlines in Article III courts. See Young

v. United States , 535 U. S. 43, 49–53 (2002) (applying the presumption to a limitations period in bankruptcy pro

ceedings); cf. Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. , 455 U. S. 385, 392–398 (1982) (holding that the statutory time limit for filing charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was “not a jurisdictional prerequisite to suit in federal court, but a requirement that, like a statute of limitations, is subject to waiver, estoppel, and equitable tolling”). In administrative settings other than the one presentedhere, I believe the “background principle” that limitations periods “are customarily subject to equitable tolling,” Young , 535 U. S., at 49–50 (internal quotation marks omitted), may limit an agency’s discretion to make filing deadlines absolute. The Court quite properly observes that the question whether equi table tolling is available turns on congressional intent. See ante, at 13. “[A] realis

tic assessment” of that intent, Irwin , 498 U. S., at 95, may vary by context. In this case, given the nature of the statutory scheme, which “applies to ‘sophisticat ed’ institutional providers” who are “repeat players” in the Medicare system, and the statute’s history, I agree that it would distort congres

sional intent to presume that the PRRB’s administrative deadline should be subject to equitable tolling. Ante, at 12–14 (quoting Your Home Visiting Nurse Services, Inc. v. Shalala , 525 U. S. 449, 456 (1999)). By contrast, with respect to remedial statutes designed to protect the rights3 Cite as: 568 U. S. ____ (2013)

S OTOMAYOR

, J., concurring

of unsophisticated claimants, see ante, at 13, agencies (and reviewing courts) may best honor congressionalintent by presuming that statutory deadlines for administrative appeals are subject to equitable tolling, just as courts presume comparable judicial deadlines under such statutes may be tolled. Bec ause claimants must generally pursue administrative relief before seeking judicial re

view, see Woodford v. Ngo , 548 U. S. 81, 88–91 (2006), a contrary approach could have odd practical consequences and would attribute a strange intent to Congress: to pro

tect a claimant’s ability to seek judicial review of an agen

cy’s decision by making equitable tolling available, while leaving to the agency’s discretion whether the same claim

ant may invoke equitable tolling in order to seek an ad

ministrative remedy in the first place. Even in cases where the governing statute clearly dele

gates to an agency the discretion to adopt rules that limit the scope of equitable exceptio ns to administrative dead

lines, I believe “cases may arise where the equities in favor of tolling the limitations period are ‘so great that deference to the agency’s ju dgment is inappropriate.’ ”

Bowen v. City of New York , 476 U. S. 467, 480 (1986) (quoting Mathews v. Eldridge , 424 U. S. 319, 330 (1976)). In particular, efforts by an agency to enforce tight filing deadlines in cases where there are credible allegationsthat filing delay was due to the agency’s own misfeasance may not survive deferential review. While equitable tolling extends to circumstances outside both parties’ control, the related doctrines of equitable estoppel and fraudulent concealment may bar a defendant from enforc

ing a statute of limitation when its own deception pre

vented a reasonably diligent plaintiff from bringing a timely claim. See United States v. Beggerly , 524 U. S. 38, 49–50 (1998) (Stevens, J., concurring) (noting that these doctrines are distinct); see generally 2 C. Corman, Limita

tion of Actions §§9.1, 9.7 (1991) (describing the doctrines).4 SEBELIUS v. AUBURN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

S OTOMAYOR

, J., concurring

In Bowen , we applied the basic principle underlying these doctrines to an agency’s condu ct, as we concluded that a 60-day deadline to seek judicial review of the administra

tive denial of disability bene fits should be tolled because the Social Security Administration’s “ ‘secretive conduct prevent[ed] plaintiffs from knowing of a violation of rights.’ ” 476 U. S., at 481 (quoting New York v. Heckler , 742 F. 2d 729, 738 (CA2 1984)). While the providers in this case allege that the agency’s
failure to disclose informatio n about how it calculated the Supplemental Security Income fraction prevented themfrom bringing timely challenges to reimbursement determinations, I am satisfied that the Secretary’s 3-year good-cause exception is a reasonable accommodation of the competing interests in administrative efficiency and fair

ness. We would face a different case if the Secretary’s regulation did not recognize an exception for good cause or defined good cause so narrowly as to exclude cases of fraudulent concealment and equitable estoppel. See ante, at 3, n. 2 (explaining that the Secretary’s amended regula

tion limiting the scope of “ ‘good cause,’ ” 73 Fed. Reg. 30250 (2008) (codified in 42 CFR §405.1836(b) (2012)), is not before us). With these observations, I join the Court’s opinion in
full.