On Thursday, August 3, 2023, the US District Court of Eastern Texas ruled in favor of the TMA, declaring certain parts of the No Surprises Act final rule as invalid. This lawsuit marked the fourth in the series initiated by the TMA, challenging the 600% increase in administrative filing fees (from $50 to $350) for initiating the independent dispute resolution (IDR) process. The TMA also challenged the Departments’ rule, which made it “difficult to batch related claims in a single arbitration proceeding”.
The court ruled that both the fee increase and the batching rule violated the notice and consent requirements, which state that agencies must first publish a “notice of proposed rulemaking and give interested persons an opportunity to participate.” Consequently, these provisions have been vacated by the court. Due to this decision, the government has temporarily halted the federal arbitration process until further guidance can be issued.
Our team remains committed to navigating the legal and regulatory changes impacting out-of-network provider reimbursements and will continue to following the legal challenges under the NSA.