California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform v. Bonta

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION Appellants allege that written and unwritten policies, procedures and guidelines of the Department of Health Services interpreting federal and state statutes relating to the Medicaid 1 program, which the department administers, constitute regulations within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act (Gov. Code, § 11340 et seq.) (APA) and are therefore void because they were not promulgated in accordance with the APA. The trial court disagreed and granted summary judgment for the department. We agree with appellants that the department failed to dispositively demonstrate the absence of a triable issue of material fact or that appellants' claim lacks legal merit. Accordingly, we shall reverse the judgment.