Any requests for reconsideration of the rate must be filed with the department's medical services division for administrative consideration within thirty days of the date of the rate notification. A nursing home dissatisfied with the final rate established may, upon completion of the reconsideration, appeal. An appeal may be perfected by mailing or delivering the information described in subdivisions a through e of this subsection to the department, at such address as the department may designate, mailed or delivered on or before five p.m. on the thirty-first day after the date of mailing of the determination of the medical services division made with respect to a request for reconsideration. Upon request of the nursing home, the department shall refer the appeal to the attorney general for the appointment of a hearing officer, knowledgeable in ratesetting matters, who is not an employee of the department and who has not been involved in the decision from which the nursing home has appealed. Although both parties frame the issue of preclusion of Americana's claim in district court in terms of collateral estoppel, we believe, for the reasons stated in our opinion, that the doctrine of res judicata applies.
Collateral estoppel is a branch of the broader doctrine of res judicata.
Res judicata, or claim preclusion, bars relitigation of claims or issues that were or could have been raised in a previous action between the same parties or their privies and which resulted in a final judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction. Id. Collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion, bars relitigation of particular issues which were litigated and determined in a previous action. Here, it is Americana's claim for relief in district court, rather than a particular issue that it raises, that is precluded by the final rate orders.