Opinion ID: 2028292
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: district court erred in interpreting the department's regulations

Text: In conducting its de novo review, the district court overturned the Department's interpretation of § 011.06K. That regulation states, Medicare regulations and administrator salary surveys for the Kansas City Region, adjusted for inflation by the Department of Health and Human Services, are used in determining reasonable salaries for administrators. The district court interpreted this regulation as providing that the salary surveys for the Kansas City region were to be used only as a guideline in determining reasonable salaries for administrators. The district court rejected the Department's purely mathematical application of salary surveys as a methodology of determining whether an administrator's salary was reasonable. The Department argues that § 011.06K, when taken in its entirety and with due note of the key words are used, dictates that salary surveys for the Kansas City region must be used to determine the maximum amount of reimbursement a facility can receive for an administrator's salary. In this case, Dale Shallenberger testified on April 28, 1992, regarding the salary survey. Shallenberger, a Department auditor, testified that the Nebraska Health Care Association had accepted the use of the Kansas City salary survey. Shallenberger testified that very few nursing homes' claims for administrative salary expenses exceed the maximum salary set by the Kansas City survey. Recently, we were required to review a court's interpretation of another section of the same medicare regulations that are before us in this case. See Sunrise Country Manor v. Neb. Dept. of Soc. Servs., 246 Neb. 726, 523 N.W.2d 499 (1994). In Sunrise Country Manor, we stated: Ordinarily, deference is accorded to an agency's interpretation of its own regulations unless plainly erroneous or inconsistent. In re Application of Jantzen, 245 Neb. 81, 511 N.W.2d 504 (1994). However, agency regulations, properly adopted and filed with the Secretary of State of Nebraska, have the effect of statutory law. Lynch v. Nebraska Dept. of Corr. Servs., 245 Neb. 603, 514 N.W.2d 310 (1994); Nucor Steel v. Leuenberger, 233 Neb. 863, 448 N.W.2d 909 (1989). The meaning of a statute is a question of law, and a reviewing court is obligated to reach its conclusions independent of the determination made by the administrative agency. Central Platte NRD v. State of Wyoming, 245 Neb. 439, 513 N.W.2d 847 (1994). This court is obligated to reach an independent conclusion as to whether the Department's interpretation of its regulations was plainly erroneous or inconsistent, as was the district court. 246 Neb. at 735, 523 N.W.2d at 504-05. The Department's interpretation of § 011.06K does not appear to be plainly erroneous or inconsistent. The Department has clearly adopted the use of salary surveys as the method for determining the reasonability of an individual nursing home's claim for administrative salary expenses. We have previously declined to substitute our judgment for an administrative agency's methodology absent a showing that the agency's methodology exceeded the scope of its statutory authority. See, Bethesda Found. v. Nebraska Dept. of Soc. Servs., 243 Neb. 130, 498 N.W.2d 86 (1993); Beatrice Manor v. Department of Health, 219 Neb. 141, 362 N.W.2d 45 (1985). We agree with the Department that § 011.06K mandates the use of the Kansas City salary surveys in determining the maximum amount of reimbursement a facility can receive for an administrator's salary.