A federal court has vacated provisions of a final rule regarding the arbitration process under the No Surprises Act and remanded it back for further consideration, Healthcare Finance reports.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Kernodle sided with the Texas Medical Association’s argument that the final rule unlawfully conflicts with the NSA in restricting arbitrators’ discretion and unlawfully tilting the arbitration process in favor of the Qualifying Payment Amount set by insurers.
The court concluded that the challenged portions of the final rule are unlawful and must be set aside under the Administrative Procedure Act.
The Texas Medical Association has challenged portions of a final rule issued by the Department of Health and Human Services governing the arbitration process for resolving payment disputes between certain out-of-network providers and insurers.
Having insurers rather than providers select the payment amounts was seen as a move to lower healthcare costs. Read more.
