Opinion ID: 486487
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Narrowness of this Opinion

Text: 81 Finally, we note the narrowness of our holdings on the mootness and retroactivity questions. We limit our holdings to control only the cases of hospitals that already are in the middle of litigation that began as a challenge to the 1979 rule. We do not express an opinion about the possible cases of hospitals whose claims are still being reviewed by the PRRB and have never reached the federal courts. See 51 Fed.Reg. at 11194. We express no opinion about the effect of the 1986 regulation on calculations under the new Prospective Payment System that has largely replaced the reimbursement system. See 51 Fed.Reg. at 11188. Further, we have not addressed any possible constitutional arguments concerning the due process and equal protection rights of the hospitals that might be affected by the 1986 rule versus those paid under the 1979 rule. See Mason General Hospital v. Secretary of the Dept. of Health and Human Services, 809 F.2d 1220, 1231 (6th Cir.1987). Lastly, to make clear, we do not express any opinion as to the prospective validity of the 1986 rule itself. See id. That issue will surely arise in litigation soon, but the validity of the rule is not appropriately before this court in this case--just as the 1986 rule cannot appropriately prevent this court from considering awarding relief in this case.