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- No Surprises Act Website Updated with New IDR Fee Ranges
On January 12, the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury updated the No Surprises Act website to reflect changes to the Federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) fees in accordance with a recently released final rule. The IDR Fees Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on December 21, 2023, and sets the administrative fee amount and certified IDR entity fee ranges for disputes initiated on or after January 22, 2024.
For these disputes, the administrative fee amount is $115 per party per dispute, and the certified IDR entity fee ranges are $200-$840 for single determinations and $268-$1,173 for batched determinations. The website now includes information on the fee set by each certified IDR entity within these ranges.
The CAP has argued that increased fees could be cost prohibitive for certain parties disputing low-dollar items and services. “By precluding the overwhelming majority of pathology claims from the IDR process (along with all other low-dollar claims), this administrative fee amount also injects a serious inequity into the process and undercuts the critical balance the legislation sought to achieve,” the CAP wrote in a recent comment letter. In response, the departments have proposed a reduced administrative fee in low-dollar disputes, which will be finalized at a later date.
Also, on January 17, the Departments reopened the comment period for the proposed rules entitled “Federal Independent Dispute Resolution Operations.” The comment period has been reopened to provide additional time for interested parties to consider and comment on any implications of the “Federal Independent Dispute Resolution Process Administrative Fee and Certified IDR Entity Fee Ranges” final rules, which were published and finalized December 21, 2023. Additional details about this comment period reopening can be found in the Federal Register notice here.