On February 6, 2023, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled in favor of the Texas Medical Association[1] and vacated portions of the final rule adopted in August 2022 (the “August 2022 Final Rule”) that applied to the Independent Dispute Resolution (“IDR”) process created by the No Surprises Act (the “Act”). [2] The August 2022 Final Rule was adopted by the Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) and addressed, in part, the specific factors arbitrators must consider in resolving disputes between out-of-network (“OON”) health care providers/facilities and air ambulance providers (collectively, “Providers”), and health insurance plans, under the Act. This is the second time portions of final rules for the IDR decision-making methods have been vacated by this Court as a result of litigation brought by impacted Providers.
