New Proposed Rules on Surprise Billing are Published by CMS and HHS On August 19, 2022, CMS and HHS released final rules that account for the two district court rulings and take into account comments from stakeholders to the interim final rules released last year. The rulemaking is narrow in scope, addressing specific issues related...

HHS Distributing $2 Billion More in Provider Relief Fund Payments to Health Care Providers Impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic On January 25, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will be disbursing an additional $2 billion in Provider Relief Fund Phase 4 payments this week. Like the payments allocated...

Public Health Emergency Declaration Extended On January 14, 2022, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services announced the extension of the Public Health Emergency (PHE) status due to COVID-19. The declaration was first issued January 31, 2020, by former Secretary Alex M. Azar II. With this most recent extension, the PHE status...

No Surprises Act Goes Into Effect, Subjecting Providers to Possible Billing Dispute Resolutions The No Surprises Act went into effect on January 1, 2022, to provide a mechanism to resolve payment disputes over out-of-network billing. A lawsuit filed on December 8, 2021, by a coalition of stakeholders representing hospitals, health systems, and physicians sued the...