ASA Announces Support for New NSA Legislation that Penalizes Insurers for Delayed Payments

Today, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), along with the American College of Radiology® (ACR®) and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) announced their support for H.R.4710 / S. 2420, the No Surprises Enforcement Act. This legislation would fine health insurance companies that fail to pay physicians within 30 days after losing the independent dispute resolution (IDR) process laid out in the No Surprises Act (NSA).

The NSA requires insurers to promptly pay physicians. If a physician or a practice considers the payment offered by the insurer to be inadequate, they can challenge the payment by using the NSA’s IDR process. If the independent arbiter rules in favor of the physician, by law, the insurer must pay the physician within 30 days. Reports of insurers failing to timely pay these arbitration awards are commonplace. According to government data, insurance companies lose nearly eight out of 10 IDR cases to physicians or other providers. This legislation does not impact the important patient protections included in the NSA that ACR®, ACEP and ASA advocated for and continue to fully support, nor does it raise patient out-of-pocket costs.

H.R. 4710 and its Senate companion S. 2420 will impose a penalty three times the difference between the insurer’s initial payment and the IDR entities’ ruling per claim. The claim will also be subject to interest. The House legislation was introduced by Rep. Greg Murphy, M.D., Rep. Jimmy Panetta, Rep. John Joyce, Rep. Kim Schrier, M.D., Rep. Bob Onder and Rep. Raul Ruiz, M.D. The Senate companion was introduced by Sen. Roger Marshall and Sen. Michael Bennett.

ACR, ACEP and ASA urge Congress to pass this bill to ensure insurance companies pay physicians and their practices fairly and in a timely manner, so they may continue to care for their patients.

Read Congressman Greg Murphy, MD’s press release on the legislation.
Read ASA’s Press Release on the legislation.
Take action and urge your lawmaker to support this legislation.