North Carolina hospitals and health systems support improvements to the No Surprises Act independent dispute resolution (IDR) process — the process for settling billing disputes between insurers and providers. Hospitals and health systems across the United States report that payers consistently are not complying with IDR determinations. The delay in reimbursement harms patients by starving providers of the resources they need to deliver care.

The No Surprises Act, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, was passed to protect patients from surprise medical bills in situations where patients have little or no control over who provides their care, including nonemergency services provided by out-of-network providers at in-network facilities, emergency services provided by out-of-network providers and facilities, and air ambulance services.

The US departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury reopened the public comment period in January 2024 for their proposed rule to improve the No Surprises Act independent dispute resolution process. The American Hospital Association comment letter is online here.