Tens of thousands of radiologists and other docs align in opposing surprise-billing provision
By Admin | October 26, 2021
Tens of thousands of radiologists and other medical doctors are aligning in opposition to one key provision in recently released rulemaking to ban surprise medical bills.
The Biden administration revealed its interim final rule on Thursday, outlining how the feds plan to settle payment disputes between payers and out-of-network providers. But the American College of Radiology, several other doc groups, and hospital lobbyists fiercely object to using an insurer-calculated “qualifying payment amount” as the starting point for negotiations. Generally, this would be the insurer’s median contracted rate for the same or similar service in the geographic area.
ACR has joined the American Society of Anesthesiologists, American Association of Neurological Surgeons and American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons in fighting the regulation. Altogether, they represent more than 140,000 specialists.
“Today’s rule does not follow the congressional intent in implementing the law,” Beverly Philip, MD, a Harvard Medical School professor and president of the anesthesiology society, said in a joint statement from the four groups, issued Oct. 1. “The impact will be more record profits for insurers, who are the real winners of this rule, not patients or the physicians who have put their lives on the line throughout this pandemic.”
Congress first authorized the No Surprises Act in December as part of a year-end spending bill. ACR and others believe the new rule failed to honor lawmakers’ original aim and will lead to “drastic” payment cuts for imaging services, regardless of network status. The groups are...(More)
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