The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
Video: Getting Ready for the No Surprises Act - Thought Leaders in Health Law
The No Surprises Act, a law that ended the practice of “balance billing” by certain out-of-network providers, was enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 on December 27, 2020. While the law passed...more
Share Federal regulators recently won a large legal victory when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld several provisions of the rule regulating Qualified Payment Amount (“QPA”) calculations under the No Surprises Act...more
In a recent win for health care providers, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has affirmed a lower court’s decision to vacate key portions of regulations issued by the U.S. Departments of Treasury,...more
On August 2,2024, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the vacatur of federal rulemaking related to the No Surprises Act’s (NSA) Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process. The Court held that the No Surprises Act does not permit the...more
Out-of-network health providers recently won a huge legal victory when the Fifth Circuit Court ruled that federal guidelines regarding Independent Dispute Resolution (“IDR”) proceedings were unlawfully slanted in favor of...more
The U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury, along with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), released FAQs about the implementation of Title I of Division BB of the Consolidated...more
As reported earlier in the MedLaw Blog (August 9, 2023), a federal District Court vacated portions of the No Surprises Act federal regulations. Thereafter, CMS halted the arbitration process for resolving disputes regarding...more
On September 26, 2023, the Departments of Health & Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) jointly proposed rules (September Rule) updating the administrative fee and Certified...more
By looking at the events that have transpired since the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, which includes the No Surprises Act (the Act), was signed into law, it is clear that the Departments of Health and Human Services,...more
On August 24, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas once again struck down parts of the regulations governing the arbitration process created by the No Surprises Act (NSA) to settle payment disputes...more
The Texas Medical Association and additional plaintiffs have brought four Administrative Procedure Act (APA) challenges to the rules and guidance implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) (termed TMA I, II, III and IV). The...more
On August 24, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued an opinion and order in Texas Medical Association, et al. v. United States Department of Health and Human Services(“HHS”)(“TMA III”). TMA...more
On August 3, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”), the Department of Labor, and the Department of Treasury (collectively, the “Departments”) temporarily suspended the federal Independent Dispute...more
On August 3, 2023, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas once again ruled in favor of the Texas Medical Association[1] and vacated portions of the guidance related to (i) the administrative fee...more
Congress enacted the No Surprises Act (NSA) in 2020 to reduce surprise medical bills and to provide a simple and fast procedure for out-of-network health care providers to obtain payment from insurers. The U.S. Department of...more
A recent article by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and National Public Radio (NPR) raised the prospect that patients may still see surprise medical bills despite the enactment of the No Surprises Act (NSA)....more
On July 6, 2023, the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released the first of five required annual reports on the impact of the No Surprises Act (NSA) on health care markets (the Report)....more
Employers have some new clarity on the No Surprises Act rules on out-of-network providers and charges under new guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Department of Health...more
In the year following the implementation of the arbitration process established under the federal No Surprises Act (NSA), more than 330,000 disputes have been submitted for resolution. This figure far outpaces the predictions...more
We are not surprised by the continued stop-and-go regarding guidance surrounding the No Surprises Act. Most recently, a Texas court vacated portions of the No Surprises Act’s updated final rule (the final rules were discussed...more
On February 6, a US district court in Texas vacated provisions of the No Surprises Act final rule related to the independent dispute resolution (IDR) process for determining payment for out-of-network services....more
The Texas Medical Association is yet again challenging the federal government’s implementation of the independent dispute resolution process established by the No Surprises Act, this time arguing the $350 fee to initiate the...more
On February 6, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated key provisions in the regulations implementing a federal arbitration process to settle out-of-network (OON) payment disputes between payers and...more
To the relief of many providers and facilities and with just three weeks to go until the implementation date, the U.S. Department of Health & Humans Services (HHS) announced that it is extending its policy of not enforcing...more
Pressure continues to mount on the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reconsider and revise its August 2022 final rule modifying the No Surprises Act independent dispute resolution (IDR) process. The rule is...more