HHS Targets Biased Arbitrators

The No Surprises Act (NSA) took effect in January 2022. The law was a compromise between out-of-network physician practices that balance billed patients (i.e., surprise medical bills) when doctors and insurers could not agree on fees. When the bill was being debated, Congress naively thought that an independent dispute resolution process could nudge doctors and health plans to agree upon fees while protecting patients from surprise medical bills.