Prof. Hickman Cited by U.S. Supreme Court

Prof. Kristin Hickman’s Administrative Law Treatise, co-authored with Prof. Richard J. Pierce, Jr., was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Azar v. Allina Health Services, No. 17-1484 (June 3, 2019).  The case concerned whether the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services failed to satisfy statutory procedural requirements when it published on its website, without public notice and comment, a new policy that changed the calculation method for, and significantly reduced, Medicare payments to hospitals.  Invalidating the agency's new policy for its lack of notice and comment, the Court cited Profs. Hickman and Pierce for the proposition that "[n]otice and comment gives affected parties fair warning of potential changes in the law and an opportunity to be heard on those changes—and it affords the agency a chance to avoid errors and make a more informed decision."