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.
Why the NSA Enforcement Act Would Make a $5 Billion Cost Problem Worse
Bill would drive more IDR waste, fraud, and abuse harming consumers and employers The No Surprises Act is already protecting millions of Americans from surprise medical bills. While the core patient protections of the law are not at issue, a handful of private...
New CASMB Ad Campaign Warns No Surprises Act Enforcement Act Rewards the Abuse It Claims to Fix
Washington, D.C. — With employers and consumers already bearing the exorbitant cost of Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) abuse, the Coalition Against Surprise Medical Billing (CASMB) today launched a six-figure ad campaign to urge policymakers to oppose H.R. 4710,...
CASMB Statement on Final IDR Operations Rule
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following the release of the final Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) operations rule, the Coalition Against Surprise Medical Billing (CASMB) issued the following statement: “Today’s final rule takes initial steps toward greater transparency and...
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...