Statement attributed to:
Jack Resneck Jr., MD
President, American Medical Association
“For the last 16 months physicians have strongly maintained that rules created by federal agencies for settling billing disputes between providers and health insurers conflict with the clear direction of Congress when it enacted the No Surprises Act in 2020. The American Medical Association welcomes the U.S. District Court decision to invalidate the misguided dispute resolution rules that conflict with the clear-cut language in the statute. The court’s decision is an important confirmation of the shared consensus among physicians, hospitals, and lawmakers that federal agencies exceeded their statutory authority and created rules that ignored the Act’s requirements for a balanced and independent arbitration process.
“As this is the second time the dispute resolution rules have been vacated and remanded back to federal agencies for further consideration, the AMA urges officials to bring the regulations in line with the Act. Arbitrators must be able to settle billing disputes between providers and health insurers without having their hands tied by misguided rules that conflict with the letter of the law. The AMA continues to support the Act’s goal of protecting patients from surprise medical billing, but we remain very concerned that the implementation of the statute has not supported physicians’ ability to meaningfully engage in the dispute resolution process, contrary to the intent of Congress.”
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The American Medical Association is the physicians’ powerful ally in patient care. As the only medical association that convenes 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders, the AMA represents physicians with a unified voice to all key players in health care. The AMA leverages its strength by removing the obstacles that interfere with patient care, leading the charge to prevent chronic disease and confront public health crises and, driving the future of medicine to tackle the biggest challenges in health care.
