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2 

BIDEN v. MISSOURI 

Per Curiam 

I 
A 
The Medicare program provides health insurance to indi-
viduals 65 and older, as well as those with specified disabil-
ities.  The Medicaid program does the same for those with 
low  incomes.  Both  Medicare  and  Medicaid  are  adminis-
tered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who
has general statutory authority to promulgate regulations 
“as may be necessary to the efficient administration of the 
functions with which [he] is charged.”  42 U. S. C. §1302(a). 
One such function—perhaps the most basic, given the De-
partment’s core mission—is to ensure that the healthcare 
providers who care for Medicare and Medicaid patients pro-
tect  their  patients’  health  and  safety.    Such  providers  in-
clude  hospitals,  nursing  homes,  ambulatory  surgical  cen-
ters, hospices, rehabilitation facilities, and more.  To that 
end, Congress authorized the Secretary to promulgate, as a 
condition of a facility’s participation in the programs, such 
“requirements as [he] finds necessary in the interest of the 
health and safety of individuals who are furnished services
in the institution.”  42 U. S. C. §1395x(e)(9) (hospitals); see, 
e.g.,  §§1395x(cc)(2)(J)  (outpatient  rehabilitation  facilities), 
1395i–3(d)(4)(B)  (skilled  nursing  facilities),  1395k(a)(2)(F) 
(i) (ambulatory surgical centers); see also §§1396r(d)(4)(B),
1396d(l)(1), 1396d(o) (corresponding provisions in Medicaid
Act).

Relying  on  these  authorities,  the  Secretary  has  estab-
lished long lists of detailed conditions with which facilities 
must comply to be eligible to receive Medicare and Medicaid
funds.  See, e.g., 42 CFR pt. 482 (2020) (hospitals); 42 CFR 
pt. 483 (long-term care facilities); 42 CFR §§416.25–416.54
(ambulatory  surgical  centers).  Such  conditions  have  long
included  a  requirement  that  certain  providers  maintain
and  enforce  an  “infection  prevention  and  control  program
designed . . . to help prevent the development and transmis-
sion  of  communicable  diseases  and  infections.”    §483.80