A federal judge sided with the Texas Medical Association for a third time in its series of legal challenges over the No Surprises Act, this time over a 600% hike in administrative fees when seeking dispute resolutions, Becker’s reports.
The TMA filed the lawsuit in January — its fourth challenging provisions of the rule — arguing that the fee hike restricts many physicians’ ability to seek arbitration when an insurer offers insufficient payment for care. The lawsuit came after federal agencies announced in October the administrative fees would remain $50 in 2023. Two months later, the agencies announced the fee would increase to $350 beginning in January 2023 “due to supplemental data analysis and increasing expenditures in carrying out the federal [independent dispute resolution] process since the development of the prior 2023 guidance.”
The medical group also disputed interim final rules that narrow the No Surprises Act’s stipulations on “batching” claims for arbitration, which it argued Congress had authorized to encourage efficiency and minimize costs in the independent dispute resolution process
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernolde ruled that federal agencies did not follow notice and comment requirements when hiking administrative fees. Read more.
