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The three agencies that oversee the independent dispute resolution (IDR) process established by the No Surprises Act have notified certified IDR entities that they should not issue any new payment determinations while the agencies evaulate and update IDR guidance to comply with a recent court decision vacating provisions of the IDR rule.

The notice comes…

For the second time in 12 months, a federal district court has set aside provisions of the No Surprises Act’s Independent Dispute Resolution Final Rule on the grounds that the portions of the rule that provide guidance to arbitrators on how to weight price submissions violate the statute’s requirements.

This decision from Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in a group of challenges to the rule, consolidated under Texas Medical Association v. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (No. 6:22-cv-372), follows closely on the Requirements Related to Surprise Billing Final Rule issued in August 2022 (August Rule), which sought to address earlier criticisms of the independent dispute resolution process, and marks the second time that the rule has been vacated in part and sent back to the three agencies for another chance.

The previous remand was covered in an earlier post on this blog. In both that instance and in this one, the court took issue with the prominence of the “qualifying payment amount” or QPA. The QPA is a statutorily defined payment rate that represents the median contracted rates recognized by an insurer for the same or similar items or services in the same geographic area.Continue Reading Portions of No Surprises Act IDR rule procedures set aside by federal court again

Following closely after the clarifying independent dispute resolution process Final Rule, the four executive branch entities tasked with implementing the provisions of the No Surprises Act, the Office of Personnel Management, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Employee Benefits Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service have issued a request for information to help the agencies craft the next stage of regulations for the surprise billing law.

The request is the latest effort by agencies to seek stakeholder input on the contours of the regulations implementing the No Surprises Act, this time with a focus on the requirements in the law for providers to issue a good faith estimate (GFE) to plans for services that their covered patients will submit for reimbursement and for insurers to issue an advanced explanation of benefits (AEOB) to their plan participants based on estimated charges relayed to them by providers.

Specifically, the entities are looking for information and recommendations on the process of transferring data from providers and facilities to plans, issuers and carriers to facilitate the GFE and AEOB processes, as well as the economic impacts of implementing these requirements. The notice was added to the Federal Register on Friday, Sept. 16 and comments are due to the agencies by November 15.Continue Reading Agencies Look for Input on No Surprises Act Good Faith Estimate Rules

On August 26, 2022, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury (the “Departments”) issued the highly anticipated Requirements Related to Surprise Billing (“August 2022 Final Rule”) and associated guidance materials concerning the independent dispute resolution (“IDR”) process established by the No Surprises Act. The August 2022 Final Rule is narrow in scope and responds to two recent decisions by the Eastern District of Texas vacating portions of the October 2021 Interim Final Rule, Requirements Related to Surprise Billing: Part II (“IFR II”), and incorporates stakeholder comments solicited by the Departments.

Importantly, as discussed more below, the August 2022 Final Rule removes the qualifying payment amount (“QPA”) as the presumptive factor in IDR payment decisions and requires health plans to submit additional information in the IDR process for cases where a claim at issue was “downcoded” by the plan.   

The August 2022 Final Rule will take effect October 25, 2022, 60 days after its publication in the Federal RegisterContinue Reading Departments issue new Final Rule and guidance materials for No Surprises Act IDR process

On February 23, 2022, a federal district court judge in Texas agreed with the Texas Medical Association that some provisions of the interim final rules implementing the No Surprises Act were promulgated in violation of the provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”). As a remedy, the court ordered those provisions vacated and remanded the affected rules back to the federal agencies for further consideration.

In a memorandum issued February 28, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, one of the federal agencies that promulgated the rule (along with the Employee Benefits Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service) indicated that it was still reviewing the court’s decision and considering next steps, which could include an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Additionally, CMS said that it was withdrawing any guidance documents based on the invalidated sections and will launch revised guidance and training for certified independent dispute resolution (“IDR”) entities and parties subject to the process. Those guidance documents will be edited to conform to the court’s decision and republished. Important to providers, CMS emphasized that the court’s order does not affect its other rulemaking related to the No Surprises Act.
Continue Reading Portion of No Surprises Act IDR rule procedures set aside by federal district court

The No Surprises Act, effective as of January 1, 2022, aims to provide patients with accurate information regarding their expected health care spending. In many cases, the new law prevents health care providers from charging patients for costs not reimbursed by insurance. We previously covered the impact of these “balance billing” prohibitions on hospital contracting. However, for the 28 million people in the United States without health insurance coverage or for those seeking care that requires initial self-payment, such as most psychological counseling, these balance billing prohibitions lack relevance because the entire balance is payable by the patient or their representative. The No Surprises Act also includes a potential solution for this group–a mandate that “Good Faith Estimates” (GFEs) be provided to all uninsured or self-pay patients.

Unlike the balance billing restrictions addressed in our prior blog, GFE requirements apply to all health care providers in all settings.  Providers must now generate cost estimates when treating uninsured (including those with insurance who do not want a claim filed) and self-pay patients. Many providers will generate estimates using the same billing systems that existed prior to the No Surprises Act, but some changes may be necessary to meet new regulatory requirements. This post will highlight key provisions relating to GFE, including how to ensure that provider billing practices comply with the new mandate.Continue Reading No Surprises Act Good Faith Estimates: What they are and when you need them

Effective January 1, 2022, common prohibitions against “balance billing” under hospital professional service contracts will likely become moot due to certain superseding federal prohibitions under the federal No Surprises Act enacted December 27, 2020.  As detailed below, certain hospital-based physicians, including radiologists, anesthesiologists, and pathologists, should keep these new federal billing prohibitions in mind when entering into new hospital professional services agreements (“PSAs”) and revisit their existing agreements to determine whether any changes are appropriate.

“No Surprises Act” Background.

The federal government’s growing focus on surprise medical bills reached a new high on July 1, 2021, when the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS“), along with the Department of Labor and Department of the Treasury, released a consumer-focused interim final rule with comment period taking aim at surprise billing and excessive cost-sharing practices.  The rule, which also cites an ineffective “patchwork” of consumer protections under existing state laws, represents the first implementing regulation under the No Surprises Act.  Both the rule and the statute become effective on or after January 1, 2022.

Balance Billing Prohibition.

This article discusses two distinct but interwoven billing procedures that deserve clarification: “surprise billing” and “balance billing.”Continue Reading No Surprises Act: Time to revisit balance billing prohibitions in hospital-based physician professional services agreements with hospitals?

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Labor, and Department of the Treasury (collectively, “the departments”) recently confirmed that they will hold firm to the March 14, 2024 extended deadlines for initiating both new and previously initiated batched disputes or single disputes involving air ambulance services in the No Surprises Act Independent…