Case: California Association For Health Services At Home v. Shewry

On October 24, 2008, an association of home health care providers brought this complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against the Director of the Department of Health Care Services of the State of California. The plaintiff sought to enjoin the Director from implementing state legislation reducing payments to home medical service providers under California's Medi-Cal program by ten percent. Plaintiff argued that the ten percent rate reduction violated Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act (the Medicaid Act), 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq., and was therefore invalid under the Supremacy Clause. The plaintiff sought declaratory judgment under 42 U.S.C. § 2201.

The Director moved to stay the action or continue the hearing on the plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunction and extending time to respond to the two new related cases. On November 3, 2008, Judge Christina A. Snyder ordered this case and two related cases stayed in their entirety until further notice.

On June 1, 2011, this case was ordered removed from the list of active cases of the Central District of California. It was further ordered that counsel file a joint report detailing the status of the case every quarter until the action was reactivated or a stipulation for dismissal was filed.

On November 28, 2011, the Director filed notice that the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) approved the State Plan Amendment (SPA) that the plaintiffs opposed. CMS approved the proposed reimbursement rate reduction. While the docket contains almost no further activity, it appears that the plaintiffs appealed this decision.

On April 23, 2015, the plaintiffs sought to dismiss the case, which the court approved on May 4. The case is now closed.