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