Frustration Over Surprise Billing Implementation Builds in House Hearing
Compliance News
Thursday, September 28 2023
(By Susanna Vogel) Lawmakers are expressing bipartisan frustration over the implementation of the No Surprises Act, a law meant to protect patients from unexpected medical bills after receiving care from out-of-network providers at in-network facilities.
In a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Tuesday, Representatives grilled witnesses including payers, providers and arbitration services representatives about the implementation of the NSA, which went into effect in January 2022. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., ranking minority member and the law’s author, called the implementation a “disappointment.”
An overloaded and contentious dispute resolution process has strained relations between providers and payers and impeded access to quality care for other patients, particularly those in rural areas, according to testimony given on Tuesday. Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., said implementation had strayed far from congressional intent and had “made the very problem it intended to fix worse.”
“It has created a tilted dispute resolution process that has left medical providers paying more to participate in a process that often forces them to accept artificially low payments with no enforcement guarantee,” Smith said. “It has also led to legal challenges that have resulted in significant backlogs and left the process clouded in uncertainty.”
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In a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Tuesday, Representatives grilled witnesses including payers, providers and arbitration services representatives about the implementation of the NSA, which went into effect in January 2022. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., ranking minority member and the law’s author, called the implementation a “disappointment.”
An overloaded and contentious dispute resolution process has strained relations between providers and payers and impeded access to quality care for other patients, particularly those in rural areas, according to testimony given on Tuesday. Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., said implementation had strayed far from congressional intent and had “made the very problem it intended to fix worse.”
“It has created a tilted dispute resolution process that has left medical providers paying more to participate in a process that often forces them to accept artificially low payments with no enforcement guarantee,” Smith said. “It has also led to legal challenges that have resulted in significant backlogs and left the process clouded in uncertainty.”
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