Key House committee calls for changes to No Surprises Act dispute resolution process

The final rule published in August to implement the independent dispute resolution process under the No Surprises Act “follows neither the letter nor the intent of the law,” leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee Friday told the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury.
 
“Despite a federal district court correctly ruling that aspects of the interim final regulation were flawed in its implementation of the IDR requirements, we are severely disappointed to find that the August 2022 final rule violates the No Surprises Act in the same ways as before,” wrote committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Ranking Member Kevin Brady, R-Texas. “… We ask that you swiftly revisit portions of the August 2022 final rule to ensure it aligns with the law as written and take immediate steps to make the law’s transparency provisions a reality for patients.”
 
The AHA and American Medical Association have filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of a Texas Medical Association lawsuit claiming the revised independent dispute resolution process for determining payment for out-of-network services under the No Surprises Act skews the arbitration results in commercial insurers’ favor in ways that violate the compromise Congress reached in the Act.