The Perils of Government-Mandated Arbitration
Protecting patients from surprise bills requires us to address the market failure that drives the problem in the first place. Arbitration is a failed remedy that will incentivize exorbitant charges moving forward. Learn more about why arbitration will continue to lead to sky-high charges from out-of-network providers and higher premiums for all of us.
Recent Report Details How Arbitration Could Become “Permanent Cost Escalator”
When Congress passed the No Surprises Act, the goal was clear: protect patients from unexpected out-of-network medical bills. The law has largely succeeded in that regard, shielding patients from most surprise bills — especially large balance bills tied to emergency...
Abuse & Misuse of Arbitration Fueling Affordability Crisis
The evidence of certain providers' routine abuse and misuse of the No Surprises Act’s Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process, also known as arbitration, has been overwhelming. Recent lawsuits reveal repeated and persistent patterns of fraudulent IDR submissions,...
Latest IDR Data Confirms Ongoing Abuse by Private Equity-Backed Providers and IDR Middlemen
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) just released new data from the first half of 2025 on the No Surprises Act’s Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process, and the numbers are staggering. Nearly 1.2 million disputes were filed in just six months,...
A +$2,000 Bill for a Runny Nose? Nutex Health’s Charges Show What Went Wrong With IDR
It’s no surprise that private equity-backed providers—including Nutex Health—have co-opted the No Surprises Act’s (NSA) IDR process into their go-to profit center. It’s the reason why private equity-backed championed arbitration as their “solution” to the surprise...
By the Numbers: How Private Equity and IDR Middlemen Abuse the No Surprises Act and Cost Americans Billions
Congress and the President enacted the No Surprises Act to protect patients from outrageous medical bills and create a balanced, predictable system for resolving payment disputes between health plans and providers, while lowering costs. Instead, some private...
HaloMD and IDR Middlemen Exploiting the No Surprises Act
The No Surprises Act was meant to protect patients from unexpected out-of-network medical bills. Instead, a new industry of profit-driven intermediaries is exploiting loopholes in the law—inflating the volume of disputes submitted for arbitration and demanding...
CollectionPro: The Latest IDR Middleman Exploiting the No Surprises Act
The rise of the “IDR middlemen” is one of the clearest examples of how the arbitration process under the No Surprises Act is wrapping the health care system in red tape and increasing costs for patients and employers. A recent BusinessMole article highlights how...
Growing Pains & Gridlock: Why the No Surprises Act Arbitration Process Needs Course Correction
The No Surprises Act represented a landmark achievement—one designed to protect patients from unexpected medical bills. But while the law’s intent was clear, its implementation—particularly the arbitration process, also known as the independent dispute resolution...
$5 Billion and Counting: How the No Surprises Act’s Arbitration Process is Driving Up Health Care Costs
A new Health Affairs article from Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms reveals how the Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process under the No Surprises Act has veered sharply off course, driving $5 billion in wasteful health care spending that...
The Hidden Middlemen Driving Up Health Care Costs: How Revenue Cycle Managers Are Undermining the No Surprises Act
The No Surprises Act protects patients from unexpected out-of-network (OON) medical bills, but a growing industry of profit-seeking middlemen is exploiting loopholes in the system—driving up costs and threatening patient access to care, according to new research...