Alignment Healthcare Inc. v. HHS
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Date FiledJuly 14, 2026
Docket25-5239
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
Argued February 2, 2026 Decided July 14, 2026
No. 25-5239
ALIGNMENT HEALTHCARE INC.,
APPELLANT
v.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES, ET AL.,
APPELLEES
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Columbia
(No. 1:25-cv-00074)
Michael B. Kimberly argued the cause for appellant. With
him on the briefs was Edward A. Day.
Jack Starcher, Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice,
argued the cause for appellees. With him on the brief were
Brett A. Shumate, Assistant Attorney General, and Courtney L.
Dixon, Attorney.
Before: SRINIVASAN, Chief Judge, KATSAS, Circuit Judge,
and ROGERS, Senior Circuit Judge.
Opinion for the Court by Senior Circuit Judge ROGERS.
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ROGERS, Senior Circuit Judge: Alignment Healthcare is a
health insurance company that offers Medicare Advantage
plans, which are funded and regulated by the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), in the Department of
Health and Human Services, 42 U.S.C. § 1395kk(a) (2024).
Medicare Advantage plans are subject to a rating system in
which they are evaluated based on several metrics, including
an annual survey of enrollees. Id. § 1395w-23(o)(4)(A). In
September 2024, Alignment contacted CMS claiming that the
ratings for two of its plans were inaccurate because some
Spanish-speaking customers received surveys in English,
contrary to Alignment’s request of their preference. After
examining the response data and consulting the survey vendor,
CMS denied Alignment’s request to disregard the survey
results. Alignment challenged that decision pursuant to the
Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), and the district court
granted summary judgment in relevant part for CMS.
On appeal, Alignment contends the refusal to discard
survey data infected by a clear survey administration error was
arbitrary and capricious because the refusal to enforce the CMS
protocols treated Alignment differently from other Medicare
Advantage plan sponsors whose ratings scores relied on
properly administered surveys. Appellant’s Br. at 25. This
court affirms. Even if CMS protocols made Alignment’s
request to distribute Spanish-language questionnaires binding
on the vendor, Alignment fails to establish that its request was
disregarded. Similarly, to the extent Alignment challenges the
adequacy of CMS’s action or explanation, that challenge fails
because CMS examined Alignment’s concerns and explained
why there was no indication of survey administration error.
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I.
The Medicare Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1395 et seq., requires
health insurance for individuals who are over the age of 65 or
who have certain disabilities. Under Medicare Parts A and B,
CMS acts as the insurer, paying healthcare providers directly
for beneficiaries’ medical services. UnitedHealthcare Ins. Co.
v. Becerra, 16 F.4th 867, 872 (D.C. Cir. 2021); see 42 U.S.C.
§ 1395c–1395i-6 (Part A); id. § 1395j–1395w-6 (Part B).
Medicare Part C allows beneficiaries to receive health
insurance through private Medicare Advantage plans, see id.
§ 1395w-22(a), administered by private health insurers, which
contract with CMS to provide coverage in particular areas of
the United States. Id. § 1395w-21(b). The insurance providers
receive monthly payments from CMS to provide coverage for
each beneficiary. Id. § 1395w-23(a)(1).
A.
Medicare Advantage contracts, which include one or more
Medicare Advantage plans, id. § 1395w-27(a), are subject to a
five-star rating system. Id. § 1395w-23(o)(4)(A). The ratings
assist beneficiaries in choosing plans and are also used in
calculating the monthly funding received by the insurance
providers. Id. § 1395w-24(b)(1)(C)(v). To prepare the ratings,
CMS evaluates data from a range of sources, including the
Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems
(hereinafter, “the survey”). See 42 C.F.R. § 422.166. The
survey is based on information from a sample of enrollees in
each Medicare Advantage plan about their experiences.
Medicare Advantage contracts with at least 600 enrollees are
required to use CMS-approved vendors to administer the
survey.
CMS requirements for survey administration are set forth
in the Quality Assurance Protocols & Technical Specifications,
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V14.1 (Nov. 2023) (hereinafter, “Protocols”). The Protocols
include several requirements regarding survey administration
in Spanish, including that “Spanish language questionnaires
must be made available to all Spanish-speaking enrollees (in
web, mail, and telephone administration).” Id. at 50. When
administering the survey by mail, vendors must include a “pre-
notification letter” advising of the survey, and this letter must
be printed in English on one side and Spanish on the other. Id.
at 33–34. When administering the survey online, vendors are
“required to administer the web survey in English and
Spanish,” id. at 27, with recipients able to choose between
English or Spanish upon initiating the survey, id. at 30. The
survey vendor, in turn, “may” use a variety of additional
strategies “at the request” of the insurance provider in
distributing the survey in non-English languages. Id. at 50.
Such strategies include sending “web survey invitations in
Spanish only to enrollees known to prefer Spanish” and “a
Spanish language questionnaire only in all mailings of the
survey to enrollees known to prefer Spanish” or mailing
questionnaires in both Spanish and English. Id. at 50–51.
To conduct the survey, CMS compiles a random sample of
enrollees from a Medicare Advantage contract. Id. at 17.
Excluded from the sample are those who fail to meet certain
criteria, such as individuals who have not been continuously
enrolled in the plan for six months. Id. CMS provides the
sample file of enrollees to the vendor, including “mailing
addresses of enrollees for whom addresses are available” in
CMS’s Integrated Data Repository. Id. at 17–18. Before
mailing survey materials, “vendors must use commercial tools,
such as the [National Change of Address] database, to update
addresses provided by CMS for sampled enrollees and to
standardize addresses to conform to U.S. Postal Service
formats.” Id. at 40. Throughout the administration of the
survey, vendors must “maintain the confidentiality of enrollees
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and may not provide contracts/plans with the names of
enrollees selected for the survey or any other enrollee
information that could be used to identify an individual
sampled enrollee.” Id. at 50.
After the vendors administer the survey, CMS provides
two plan preview periods. 42 C.F.R. § 422.166(h)(2). In the
first period, insurance providers can “review the methodology
and their posted numeric data for each measure.” 83 Fed. Reg.
16,440, 16,588 (Apr. 16, 2018). In the second period,
insurance providers can review “any revisions made as a result
of the first plan preview” and their “preliminary Star Ratings.”
Id. Insurance providers can send comments to CMS by email
following this review. CMS Mem. at 3 (Oct. 26, 2023).
B.
On September 13, 2024, Alignment contacted CMS to
dispute the preliminary ratings in the second preview period for
two of its contracts (Nos. H3443 and H3815). Email at 27–28
(Sept. 13, 2024). Because the “Spanish survey responses
dropped significantly” for these two contracts between 2023
and 2024, Alignment claimed the results reflected either (1) a
sampling error that caused a lower percentage of Spanish-
speaking members to be selected to take the survey, or (2) a
survey administration error in which some “Spanish-speaking
members may not have received the Spanish version of the
survey, despite this being their preferred language.” Id. Either
error, Alignment claimed, would have “had a significant
negative impact on our . . . scores” because Spanish-speaking
enrollees reported “at least 10% higher satisfaction rates
compared to English-speaking members” in Alignment’s
internal surveys. Id. Alignment requested that “CMS conduct
a thorough examination of our samples or suppress the [survey]
results for these contracts.” Id. at 28. Alignment also requested
6
data regarding the prior year’s survey. Email at 21–22 (Sept.
16, 2024).
In its initial response, CMS confirmed that the surveys
“drew a random sample” of enrollees for each contract and
provided data comparing respondents who primarily spoke
Spanish at home with those who completed the Spanish
language survey. CMS Email at 22–23 (Sept. 16, 2024). The
data showed that about a quarter of respondents for each
contract reported primarily speaking Spanish at home and
about a fifth of respondents completed the survey in Spanish.
Id. CMS stated that the results were “consistent with choices
made by members for whom both Spanish and English surveys
were available” and that the Protocols required “that at a
minimum, Spanish surveys be made available upon request
from members in response to bilingual prenotification
materials.” Id. at 23. In further response, CMS shared the
figures for 2023–2024 showing (1) the percentage of
respondents “who answered the survey in Spanish in each
year” and (2) those “with a high (>30%) predicted probability
of Spanish preference,” and stated “both the percentage of
respondents who completed the Spanish language survey and
the percentage of respondents likely to prefer Spanish dropped”
between the two years for both contracts. CMS Email at 21
(Sept. 17, 2024).
Alignment responded that the data indicated a problem
with the survey results because it showed a “significant decline
in both predicted Spanish preference rates and Spanish survey
completions among survey responses” despite “a slight year-
over-year increase in the percentage of Spanish-speaking
[survey]-eligible members in the files . . . submitted to our
vendor.” Email at 19 (Sept. 17, 2024). It requested that CMS
provide data covering “the percentage of high predicted
probability of Spanish preference within the entire [survey]-
7
eligible population compared to the selected 800-sample,”
which would help to “determine if there is any bias in the
sample itself,” or “point to an issue with the matching or
fulfillment process” if bias was not found. Id. Alternatively,
Alignment stated that it was “open to a swift and fair
resolution”: CMS could either “suppress the [survey] results
for these contracts and calculate our overall performance
without including these scores,” or “mark[] . . . two of the
[survey] measures” as having “Very Low Reliability.” Id. at
20.
CMS stated in response the requested data showed that
“[i]n each year in each contract the proportion of sampled
enrollees with high predicted Spanish probability was similar
to the proportion among the larger set of [survey] eligibles from
which the sample was drawn.” CMS Email at 16 (Sept. 19,
2024). Noting it was “common for patient surveys” to feature
lower response rates from Spanish speakers than from survey
recipients as a whole, and that it was “typical” for a portion of
those preferring Spanish to take the survey in English, id.,
CMS concluded the data was “consistent with a random sample
and typical patterns of survey nonresponse,” id. at 17.
Alignment repeated its concerns, including that a “marked
reduction in Spanish-language survey completions” suggested
that “Spanish-speaking members may have received surveys in
English” or “errors in sample selection.” Email at 14–15 (Sept.
20, 2024). CMS responded, stating that it had “looked
extensively into these concerns” and had not found evidence of
errors in how the sample was compiled or how the survey data
was analyzed. CMS Email at 12 (Sept. 23, 2024). “[A]s such,”
CMS stated, it had “no authority to remove any of the [survey]
data from the contract’s overall Star Rating.” Id. Further,
“[w]hether or not Spanish-speaking members received surveys
in English despite their preference is outside of CMS
8
control. . . . CMS does not get involved in how survey vendors
implement language preference data. This is determined by the
plan and their vendor working together.” Id. at 13.
Alignment continued to express concern about the
Spanish-language responses, Email at 9 (Sept. 23, 2024), and
CMS reiterated it had verified that the sample was
representative of Spanish speakers and that the responses “were
as expected and consistent with the correct administration of
the survey.” CMS Email at 8 (Sept. 25, 2024). CMS pointed
out that “[r]espondents who primarily speak Spanish at home
are often also able to complete the survey in English and many
choose to do so when both Spanish and English survey options
are made available, as was the case here.” Id. Also, the
proportion of respondents speaking primarily Spanish at home
filled out surveys in English at lower rates than for Medicare
Advantage plans overall, which indicated “unusually good
access to Spanish-language surveys” for the two contracts. Id.
In addition, CMS stated the survey vendor had “attested” to
following the Protocols and using “the language preference
data shared by the plan.” Id. The vendor stated that it “matched
[the language preference data] as well as possible to the CMS
sample file” using “components such as name and detailed
components of the address to be sure the match is correct.”
DataStat Email at 1 (Sept. 18, 2024).
When CMS again denied a request for reconsideration,
Alignment asked for permission “to survey our Spanish-
speaking [survey]-eligible members directly” about “whether
they received the [ ] survey this year and in what language.”
Email at 4 (Sept. 26, 2024). CMS refused, repeating that its
“analyses have established that the [survey] sample represented
Spanish-preferring members, used the language preference
information you provided, and resulted in Spanish-preferring
members choosing to respond in Spanish and rates that were
9
high and higher than average.” CMS Email at 3 (Sept. 30,
2024). “No further validation is needed.” Id. CMS explained
that a separate survey “would not be permitted” in view of the
CMS Protocols on respondent confidentiality, and “would not
produce reliable information” by “asking about a survey that
. . . may or may not have [been] received 6 to 8 months ago.”
Id.
On January 10, 2025, Alignment filed suit, challenging
CMS’s order denying relief on multiple grounds pursuant to the
APA. On cross motions for summary judgment, the district
court, as relevant, granted summary judgment for the
Department. Alignment appeals.
II.
This court reviews de novo the district court’s grant of
summary judgment Dist. Hosp. Partners, L.P. v. Burwell, 786
F.3d 46, 54 (D.C. Cir. 2015). The court will “affirm summary
judgment for the agency unless it violated the Administrative
Procedure Act by taking action that is arbitrary, capricious, an
abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”
Id. (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). This
standard examines whether the agency’s “decision was based
on a consideration of the relevant factors and whether there has
been a clear error of judgment.” Marsh v. Oregon Nat. Res.
Council, 490 U.S. 360, 378 (1989) (citation omitted). The
“deferential standard of review” is particularly deferential
where agency decisions “involve complex judgments about
sampling methodology and data analysis that are within the
agency’s technical expertise,” so long as the agency applies its
“expertise in a reasoned manner.” Dist. Hosp. Partners, 786
F.3d at 60 (citations omitted). “The party challenging an
agency’s action as arbitrary and capricious bears the burden of
10
proof.” City of Olmsted Falls v. FAA, 292 F.3d 261, 271 (D.C.
Cir. 2002) (citation and alteration omitted).
A.
Alignment’s primary contention is that CMS departed
from the Protocols by refusing to discard the survey results for
two Medicare Advantage plan contracts, thereby violating the
requirement that “agencies must ‘follow their own rules, even
gratuitous procedural rules that limit otherwise discretionary
actions.’” Appellant’s Br. at 28 (quoting Steenholdt v. FAA,
314 F.3d 633, 639 (D.C. Cir. 2003)). Alignment relies on the
requirements in the Protocols that “Spanish language
questionnaires must be made available to all Spanish-speaking
enrollees (in web, mail, and telephone administration),” and
that vendors may take several different approaches “at the
request of the contract” to administer the survey in Spanish,
such as by mailing “a Spanish language questionnaire only” to
recipients “known to prefer to Spanish.” Id. at 13, 30
(emphasis in original) (quoting Protocols at 50–51). These
provisions, Alignment maintains, required the vendor to send
Spanish-only materials to enrollees identified as preferring
Spanish, and the vendor violated this requirement by sending
English surveys to “a material number” of enrollees who
preferred Spanish, approximately 15% of Spanish-speaking
enrollees in one plan, and 10% of such enrollees in another. Id.
at 31.
Even assuming that the Protocols made Alignment’s
Spanish-materials request binding on the vendor, and that CMS
would be required to discard a survey administered in violation
of the Protocols, Alignment fails to show that CMS acted
arbitrarily or capriciously contrary to the request or the
Protocols. The vendor informed CMS that it had “received a
preferred language file” from Alignment “and matched it as
11
well as possible to the CMS sample file received from each
plan,” using “components such as name and detailed
components of the address to be sure the match is correct.”
DataStat Email at 1. CMS could reasonably conclude that the
vendor did its best to send Spanish questionnaires to those
whose contact information from the two data files was the
same, while refraining to recognize an individual in the sample
file as the same as the one in the language preference data if
there were mismatches in contact information, under a “very
conservative approach” to data-matching. Id. That conclusion
is consistent with the survey data showing that Spanish-
speaking enrollees responded in Spanish at “rates that were
high and higher than average.” CMS Email at 3 (Sep. 30,
2024). Therefore, Alignment fails to point to evidence in the
administrative record indicating that the vendor refused to
follow its request. To the extent Alignment is objecting that
the vendor may have defaulted to sending English
questionnaires when it could not match Alignment’s data with
CMS’s sample file, Alignment identifies no provision of the
Protocols that would prohibit such a data-matching approach.
Neither has Alignment shown that it was unreasonable for
the vendor to employ “a conservative approach” to resolving
mismatches or for CMS to accept the survey results.
Alignment has not indicated that it requested the vendor to
“[i]nclude a Spanish language questionnaire in all mailings of
the English language questionnaire,” which the Protocols
identify as an option, at 50. Even if the vendor did not use a
Spanish-language default for mismatches, the CMS Protocols
impose several requirements on vendors that would make a
Spanish-language questionnaire “available” to Spanish-
speaking enrollees. In administering the survey by mail,
vendors must mail a pre-notification letter that is “printed with
English on one side and Spanish on the other side” and that
includes the “vendor’s toll-free telephone number for sampled
12
enrollees to call to request a Spanish language survey,” which
“must be mailed within two days of the telephone request.” Id.
at 51. Vendors are “required to administer the web survey in
English and Spanish.” Id. at 27. Such requirements enable
individuals to have access to a Spanish-language survey
through multiple methods. Alignment’s objection that there is
“no evidence” in the administrative record that the vendor
followed these requirements, Appellant’s Br. at 42–43,
overlooks that Alignment — not CMS — bears the burden of
showing that CMS’s action was arbitrary and capricious,
Olmsted Falls, 292 F.3d at 271.
B.
Without a foothold in the Protocols, Alignment turns to
three additional contentions, but none is persuasive. Neither is
its challenge to CMS’s investigation or explanation.
“Typically, a court cannot affirm an agency decision on a
ground other than those relied upon by the agency.” Wilson v.
Fed. Mine Safety & Health Rev. Comm’n, 863 F.3d 876, 883
(D.C. Cir. 2017) (citing SEC v. Chenery Corp., 318 U.S. 80, 88
(1943)). Alignment contends, first, that this court cannot
affirm on the basis that it failed to show a violation of the
Protocols because this was “not the rationale that CMS gave
during the plan preview periods.” Appellant’s Br. at 39; see
Reply Br. at 9–13. Yet a party forfeits its Chenery contention
if it fails to raise it in the district court, absent “exceptional
circumstances.” Byers v. Comm’r of Internal Revenue, 740
F.3d 668, 681 (D.C. Cir. 2014) (citation omitted). Forfeiture
applies here.
According to Alignment, CMS “responded to [its]
concerns by insisting that no language-mismatch error had
occurred and that . . . survey issues were not its problem.”
13
Appellant’s Br. at 39. Under this view, CMS could not argue
that its actions were consistent with the Protocols’
requirements because it failed to invoke this reasoning in its
email correspondence with Alignment. But Alignment first
raised its contention that CMS’s inaction violated the Protocols
in the district court. In correspondence with CMS, Alignment
had stated that it had “identified serious discrepancies in the [ ]
survey results that threaten the accuracy and validity of our Star
Ratings.” Email at 14 (September 20, 2024). In the district
court, Alignment went beyond argument regarding the
“accuracy and validity” of the survey results, claiming that
“CMS’s approved survey vendors are required by CMS’s own
guidelines to make Spanish-language questionnaires available”
and that Alignment’s vendor failed to administer the survey “in
a manner consistent with” the Protocols. Mem. of Points and
Authorities in Support of Plaintiff’s Mot. for Sum. Judgment at
45. In opposing Alignment’s motion, CMS argued: (1) the
Protocols “require that all enrollees have the opportunity to
complete the survey in Spanish, regardless of whether they
were sent a Spanish-language paper survey initially,”
Opposition at 40; (2) the initial receipt of a Spanish-language
survey concerned “Alignment’s coordination with its own
survey vendor,” which did not “fall within CMS’s direct
oversight or control,” id. at 39; and (3) Alignment’s vendor had
told CMS that it had “matched the client data to enrollee names
and addresses,” while taking “a conservative approach to this
process and refrain[ing] from matching records when there are
any conflicts between names or addresses in the plan’s data and
CMS’s sample data,” id. at 36. In response, Alignment did not
raise Chenery or argue that the district court could not affirm
CMS based on these arguments. See Opposition & Reply at
15–18.
No exceptional circumstances excuse Alignment’s failure
to raise a Chenery objection in the district court. See Byers,
14
740 F.3d at 681. Alignment had ample time during the course
of its email exchange with CMS to present arguments about
what the Protocols required, particularly after CMS’s initial
response was that the Protocols “require that at a minimum,
Spanish surveys be made available upon request from members
in response to bilingual prenotification materials.” CMS Email
at 23 (Sept. 16, 2024). Yet Alignment did not contest this view,
by asserting, for example, in its email (as it subsequently did in
the district court) that the Protocols require more than making
Spanish surveys available on request. It compounded this
omission by failing to raise a Chenery objection in the district
court when CMS responded with arguments in support of its
interpretation of the Protocols.
Second, Alignment contends that CMS’s interpretation of
the Protocols fails to “treat like cases alike.” Appellant’s Br.
at 28 (citation omitted). By this account, the Protocols cannot
permit vendors to vary how they “undertake their data-
matching processes” because such variance would permit
“some vendors to take an ‘especially conservative’ approach to
data handling while accepting that others will take more
permissive approaches.” Reply Br. at 21–22. Alignment relies
on Consolidated Edison Company of New York v. FERC, 45
F.4th 265 (D.C. Cir. 2022), where the court held that the
decision to allocate the costs of two projects using a particular
analytic method was arbitrary and capricious because the
agency had used a different method for allocating the costs of
a similar project without sufficient explanation. Id. at 278–81.
That holding accords with recognizing that “an agency must
provide an adequate explanation to justify treating similarly
situated parties differently.” Comcast Corp. v. FCC, 526 F.3d
763, 769 (D.C. Cir. 2008); see, e.g., Baltimore Gas & Elec. Co.
v. FERC, 954 F.3d 279, 286 (D.C. Cir. 2020); Grayscale Invs.,
LLC v. SEC, 82 F.4th 1239, 1245 (D.C. Cir. 2023). “If a party
plausibly alleges it has received inconsistent treatment under
15
the same rule or standard, [the court] must consider whether the
agency has offered a reasonable and coherent explanation for
the seemingly inconsistent results.” Grayscale Invs., 82 F.4th
at 1245 (citation omitted).
By contrast, Alignment has not shown that it was treated
inconsistently, such as by pointing to when CMS has
suppressed survey results in similar circumstances. Instead,
Alignment offers a theoretical objection that permitting
insurance plans and vendors to decide between themselves how
to administer the survey in non-English languages could affect
survey results. Appellant’s Br. at 28–29; Reply Br. at 21–22.
Perhaps so, but Alignment fails to offer a basis on which the
court could conclude this regulatory flexibility leads CMS to
treat similarly situated cases differently or did so here.
Relatedly, Alignment turns to the private nondelegation
doctrine, under which private entities must “function
subordinately to the agency and . . . subject to its authority and
surveillance.” FCC v. Consumers’ Research, 606 U.S. 656,
692 (2025). Alignment contends, third, that CMS’s
interpretation of the Protocols violates this doctrine, pointing
to CMS’s statement that it “does not get involved in how
survey vendors implement language preference data.”
Appellant’s Br. at 18 (quoting CMS Email at 13 (Sept. 23,
2024)). Yet CMS’s interpretation does not confer “decision-
making authority to outside entities.” Hight v. U.S. Dep’t of
Homeland Sec., 135 F.4th 996, 1009 (D.C. Cir. 2025) (quoting
Louisiana Pub. Serv. Comm’n v. FERC, 860 F.3d 691, 696
(D.C. Cir. 2017) (ellipsis omitted)). While the regulatory
scheme vests some discretion in insurance providers and
vendors to decide how to collect data on a plan’s performance,
CMS retains ultimate authority by overseeing the collection
process and deciding whether the survey results are accurate
16
enough to be included in scores for rating individual Medicare
Advantage plans. Specifically,
CMS reviews the quality of the data on which
performance, scoring and rating of a measure is based
before using the data to score and rate performance or
in calculating a Star Rating. This includes review of
variation in scores among [Medicare Advantage]
organizations . . . and the accuracy, reliability, and
validity of measures and performance data before
making a final determination about inclusion of
measures in each year’s Star Ratings.
42 C.F.R. § 422.164(b). Under the plain text of the regulation,
CMS decides whether the survey results are sufficiently
accurate to be included in the Star Ratings calculation, and the
vendor’s administration of the survey “can have only the legal
(or, indeed, practical) effect” that CMS permits. Consumers’
Research, 606 U.S. at 694. The survey vendor serves a fact-
gathering role here that raises no nondelegation issue.
Southwest Airlines Co. v. Transportation Sec. Admin., 650 F.3d
752, 757–58 (D.C. Cir. 2011).
Finally, no more persuasive is Alignment’s challenge that
CMS’s investigation or explanation was inadequate. See
Appellant’s Br. at 35–37. After examining the survey results,
CMS found “no evidence that there [was] an issue with the
reliability of the [] Survey data.” CMS Email at 12 (Sept. 23,
2024). CMS concluded that the survey results indicated
“unusually good access to Spanish-language surveys” for the
two contracts at issue, CMS Email at 8 (Sept. 25, 2024), and
offered several plausible explanations for the fluctuation in the
data, including that some individuals who speak Spanish may
have taken the survey in English, CMS Email at 16 (Sept. 19,
2024). CMS also contacted the survey vendor, which attested
17
to following the relevant requirements. Id. Finding no support
for Alignment’s concern that the vendor had failed to make
Spanish-language surveys available or that such a failure had
rendered the survey results unreliable, CMS explained its
conclusion during several weeks of email correspondence with
Alignment. See supra Part I.B. Alignment, thus, fails to show
that CMS acted unreasonably by failing to take further action.
Moreover, CMS’s interpretation of the Protocols would not
leave Alignment without recourse in the future. Under the
Protocols, Alignment has the option to request the vendor “to
‘double stuff’ mail packets to include both English and Spanish
language surveys,” CMS Email at 23 (Sept. 16, 2024);
Protocols at 50, seemingly obviating disputes about Spanish-
language preference because everyone mailed a survey would
receive the questionnaire in both English and Spanish.
Accordingly, the court affirms the grant of summary
judgment in relevant part to CMS.