Private Equity Firms Exploit Patients
Seeking Emergency Care
The growing presence of private equity-backed providers is becoming an all too common influence in the health system – and one of the leading drivers behind egregious surprise medical bills that bankrupt families across the country. Learn more about how private equity firms exploit the market at the expense of patients – and why surprise medical billing reforms need to address the soaring cost of these bills.
ICYMI: New Health Affairs Data Shows IDR Costs and Volume Surging in First Half of 2025
A new analysis published in Health Affairs offers an early look at Q1-Q2 2025 data from the No Surprises Act’s federal Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process, finding that “the volume of cases submitted into the IDR process continues to exceed all expectations.”...
Flawed Incentives Driving Up Costs for Consumers & Employers
Abuse and misuse of the No Surprises Act’s independent dispute resolution (IDR) process is fueling the health care affordability crisis. One reason? The decision-makers at the center of the IDR process — known as IDR entities, or IDREs — benefit from misaligned...
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...
Private Equity Plays Both Sides of the No Surprises Act — and Patients Are Paying the Price
When Congress passed the No Surprises Act, the goal was clear: protect patients from unexpected out-of-network medical bills and lower costs for employees and employers. But a new analysis from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) finds that private equity is...
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...