How Could Potential Changes to Chevron Impact HHS-Regulated Entities?

The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide whether to modify or to abandon the longstanding Chevron doctrine of deferring to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutory provisions.

A Bloomberg Law article addresses the likely impact of a ruling overturning or narrowing Chevron on decisions by agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and potential challenges to those decisions.

The article summarizes the Chevron doctrine and the two Supreme Court cases challenging the doctrine this term, Loper Bright & Relentless, and provides context on how the Courts have approached the doctrine in recent health care cases.

The authors note that while the U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide Chevron’s fate, narrowing or reversing the doctrine may have a less-than-expected impact considering judicial trends. But a further diminished Chevron could lead to more crowded federal dockets as regulated entities perceive more upside to litigating administrative law challenges on a more level playing field.

The article was authored by health care litigation partner Stephanie Webster, life sciences regulatory & compliance counsel Beth Weinman and life sciences regulatory & compliance associate Pascale Stain.