American Health Care Association v. Burwell

Case Updates

Click here to view the dismissal order.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi granted the motion and entered a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of the rule.

The U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief supporting the request for a preliminary injunction against a rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) within the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) that would ban nursing homes from entering into pre-dispute arbitration agreements with their residents. The Chamber filed detailed comments explaining that such a rule would violate the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and defending the fairness and efficiency of arbitration agreements in the nursing home context.

After CMS finalized the arbitration ban on October 4, 2016, the American Health Care Association (“AHCA”) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi challenging the final rule as a violation of the Federal Arbitration Act and a motion for a preliminary injunction halting the rule.

The Chamber filed an amicus brief supporting that motion. The brief explained that while HHS’s rule is currently limited to nursing homes, the justifications HHS has provided for the rule could, if accepted in this case, be invoked by numerous federal agencies with a desire to prohibit arbitration agreements. Conversely, if this rule is invalidated—that decision should provide helpful precedent for combatting the anti-arbitration efforts of other federal agencies.

William Lucien Smith, Jr. of Balch & Bingham LLP and Adam G. Unikowsky of Jenner & Block LLP served as co-counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.