FAH joined the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, and Texas Medical Association in filing an amicus brief in Guardian Flight v. Health Care Service Corporation before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of judicially enforcing independent dispute resolution (IDR) awards under the No Surprises Act (NSA).  

When a provider and insurer cannot agree on a reasonable payment amount for out-of-network services provided to a patient, under the NSA, the parties engage in an IDR process. A Texas district court previously ruled that even if a provider prevails in the IDR process, there is no private cause of action to enforce that IDR award under the NSA. 

The amicus brief urges the Appeals Court to reverse the district court and explains “why the district court’s conclusion is inconsistent with longstanding canons of statutory interpretation and the NSA’s plain text” and addresses “the harm such an interpretation will have on providers and their patients.” The brief also explains that under “the NSA, it is usually providers who seek payment from insurers because it is providers who have rendered services without pre-payment.” It concludes that if “insurers’ payment obligations are unenforceable, they will have no incentive to pay providers at all.”

Read the Amicus Brief here.