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Action needed:
Call or email your U.S. representative and urge them to sign on to a letter to the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor asking the agencies to correct the independent dispute resolution process included in the second No Surprises Act interim final rule.
Find your representative’s contact information via this online directory.
A bipartisan letter is being circulated by Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) to make the case that the interim final rule ignores congressional intent. To sign onto the letter, please ask your representative’s office to contact the following staff:
- House Democrats should email Steven Peterson (steven.peterson@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Suozzi’s office.
- House Republicans should email Casey Quinn (casey.quinn@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Wenstrup’s office.
Timing:
Call or email your representative TODAY. Because this is an interim final rule, timing is critical. The deadline to sign onto the letter is 9:00 a.m. (PT) on Nov. 5.
Resources:
CHA’s support letter to the California congressional delegation may be used as a template for members’ outreach. Additional support for our case is outlined in an Oct. 4 letter to the tri-agencies from Chairman Neal and Ranking Member Brady, the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee, and CHA’s Oct. 14 CEO Message.
Background:
On Sept. 30, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury (tri-agencies) released the second No Surprises Act (NSA) interim final rule. Among other provisions, the rule implements the independent dispute resolution arbitration process used when health plans and hospitals and providers cannot agree on an appropriate payment amount for out-of-network care covered by the NSA.
Contrary to congressional intent, the rule instructs arbitrators to default to a health plan’s median payment rate for a service instead of considering all the factors included in the legislation. Congress included these factors to ensure the arbitrated payment amount fully recognized the value of care provided to patients. Overweighting the health plan median payment rate in the arbitration process will encourage health plans to further narrow their networks and ultimately limit patient access to care.
Urge your representative to sign on to the bipartisan letter to the tri-agencies requesting that regulatory implementation of the Act reflect congressional intent by correcting the independent dispute resolution process included in the second NSA interim final rule.