Stroeder v. Office of Medical Assistance Programs

37 P.3d 1012, 178 Or. App. 374, 12 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1169, 2001 Ore. App. LEXIS 1882
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 19, 2001
DocketD4-3617-AK7110; A110956
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 37 P.3d 1012 (Stroeder v. Office of Medical Assistance Programs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stroeder v. Office of Medical Assistance Programs, 37 P.3d 1012, 178 Or. App. 374, 12 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1169, 2001 Ore. App. LEXIS 1882 (Or. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

*376 BREWER, J.

Claimant seeks judicial review of a final order on reconsideration of the Office of Medical Assistance Programs (OMAP), 1 in which OMAP denied her request, under the Oregon Health Plan, 2 for coverage for services related to a combined lung and liver transplant. We conclude that OMAP properly denied coverage under its administrative rules pertaining to transplants and that its decision did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 USC § 12101 et seg. Accordingly, we affirm.

We summarize the facts from the record and from OMAP’s final order on reconsideration. Claimant suffers from cystic fibrosis and associated conditions including worsening portal hypertension, severe pulmonary involvement, and chronic liver disease. On December 7, 1999, her physician requested that OMAP authorize a referral to a hospital in Palo Alto, California, for evaluation for a “combined liver and lung transplant.” On December 20, OMAP denied the request, on the ground that “this combination of organ transplants is not covered” by the Oregon Health Plan. According to the denial notice, under the applicable administrative rules, “irreversible liver disease is contra-indicated for lung transplant and uncorrectable failure of the lungs is contraindicated for liver transplant.”

Claimant sought a hearing, which was held on March 22, 2000. On April 4, the hearing officer issued a final order reversing OMAP’s decision. The hearing officer reasoned that, where claimant was seeking removal of both organs simultaneously, the rules relating to contraindication did not apply. The hearing officer also found that a preponderance of the evidence established as fact that there were no contraindications. Finally, the hearing officer reasoned that, although the list in the applicable administrative rule of *377 approved organ transplants included several “paired” organ transplants, the absence of an express listing for a simultaneous lung and liver transplant was not significant, because the expressly listed paired organ transplants involved “closely interrelated organ systems that frequently are affected by the same disease process.” The hearing officer concluded that, consistent with the rule, where both lung and liver transplants were separately listed, the simultaneous transplant of those organs was not prohibited. He therefore reversed OMAP’s order denying coverage.

On April 10, 2000, OMAP withdrew the hearing officer’s final order, on the ground that the hearing officer had incorrectly interpreted the rules governing organ transplants. On May 22, after reconsidering the matter, OMAP issued a proposed final order on reconsideration. Claimant submitted written exceptions, including exceptions to several proposed findings of fact. She also asserted that OMAP’s interpretation of applicable provisions and its decision to deny her coverage violated the ADA and the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. On June 8, OMAP issued its final order on reconsideration.

In its order, OMAP interpreted and applied OAR 410-120-1200, OAR 410-124-0000, OAR 410-141-0500, and related rules 3 and concluded that they did not authorize coverage for “simultaneous bilateral lung and liver transplant services.” OMAP also determined that the decision to deny coverage did not violate the ADA or the Equal Protection or Due Process Clause; according to OMAP, the list of covered organ transplants complied not only with the ADA and those constitutional provisions but also with applicable Medicaid provisions. For those reasons, OMAP again denied coverage. This petition for judicial review followed.

In her first and second assignments of error, claimant asserts that OMAP erred in characterizing her request as one for a “simultaneous” lung and liver transplant and in finding that a witness had testified that there were no *378 reported cases of successful lung-liver transplants in the United States. In her third assignment of error, claimant asserts that OMAP erred in interpreting its applicable rules as not authorizing services related to a lung and liver transplant. In her fourth and fifth assignments, she contends that OMAP’s decision denying the requested services was contrary to Medicaid requirements, including the requirement that states provide similar treatment to similarly situated individuals and the requirement that the state establish reasonable standards for determining the amount, duration, and scope of services and that it was contrary to the ADA.

OMAP responds that it correctly interpreted its rules as prohibiting coverage for combined lung and liver transplant services and that, accordingly, it is immaterial whether it erred in characterizing those organ transplants as “simultaneous” or in finding that there were no reported cases of such transplants in the United States. OMAP also contends that, in any event, substantial evidence in the record supports the challenged findings. OMAP contends that claimant failed to raise her fourth assignment of error, relating to the purported violation of federal Medicaid requirements, in the administrative hearing and that the claimed error is not error apparent on the face of the record and this court therefore should decline to consider it. OMAP also asserts that, in any event, its list of covered organ transplants does not violate Medicaid’s requirement relating to the treatment of similarly situated individuals or its reasonableness standards and that, to the extent that use of the list is contrary to the latter, those standards have been waived in Oregon by the relevant federal agency. Finally, OMAP asserts that its denial of coverage for a combined lung and liver transplant did not violate the ADA, because a combined lung and liver transplant is not a service that is offered to any person, disabled or nondisabled.

We review OMAP’s factual findings for substantial evidence and its legal conclusions for errors of law. ORS 183.482(8)(a)-(c); OPEU v. Dept. of Admin. Services, 173 Or App 432, 22 P3d 251 (2001). We begin with claimant’s first and second assignments of error, relating to OMAP’s factual characterization of the requested transplants as “simultaneous” and its factual finding that there were no reported cases *379 of successful outcomes for combined lung and liver transplants in the United States. As to the former, in the December 7, 1999, request for approval of coverage, one of claimant’s physicians, Dr. Terry, requested a “combined” lung and liver transplant. In the hearing, another physician, Dr. Powers, testified that, in such a procedure, the “two transplants are done at the same time.” Based on those references, and considering the similarity of meaning of the terms “combined” and “simultaneous,” we conclude that substantial evidence supports OMAP’s finding. 4

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Bluebook (online)
37 P.3d 1012, 178 Or. App. 374, 12 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1169, 2001 Ore. App. LEXIS 1882, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stroeder-v-office-of-medical-assistance-programs-orctapp-2001.