Justices Pass on Case Over Doctor’s Medicare Billing Start Date

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a doctor’s dispute with the Department of Health and Human Services over its alleged failure to pay out seven years of Medicare claims after a program contractor mistakenly deactivated the doctor from Medicare billing privileges.

The case would have offered the justices the chance to reexamine how much deference courts should grant to agency interpretations of ambiguous regulations.

Willie Goffney, a surgical oncologist, argued that the HHS refused to accept his Medicare claims even though he was deactivated as a result of a computer error and followed program rules and instructions ...