Biden-Harris Administration Advances Key Protections Against Surprise Medical Bills; Stakeholder Briefing to be Held Monday, October 4, 2021 Today, the Biden-Harris Administration, through the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor (DOL), Treasury (collectively, the Departments), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued an interim final rule with comment period to further implement the No Surprises Act – a consumer protection law that helps curb the practice of surprise medical billing. This rule details a process that will take patients out of the middle of payment disputes, provides a transparent process to settle out-of-network (OON) rates between providers and payers, and outlines requirements for health care cost estimates for uninsured (or self-pay) individuals. Other consumer protections in the rule include a payment dispute resolution process for uninsured or self-pay individuals. It also adds protections in the external review process so that individuals with job-based or individual health plans can dispute denied payment for certain claims. To further discuss this interim final rule, the HHS Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs, in partnership with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), invite you to join us on Monday, October 4 at 2:00 PM ET for a Stakeholder Briefing. The Stakeholder Briefing will include remarks from: Deputy Director for Policy of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), Jeff Wu Director for the Office of Health Plan Standards and Compliance Assistance, Employee Benefit Security Administration (DOL), Amber Rivers HHS Director of the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs, Marvin Figueroa Please register for the Stakeholder Briefing at this link: https://www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_0FJDhx0JSLGa1y5e2D3FrQ Please note that each individual attendee must register in order to access the meeting. Please feel free to send this invitation to your members and network. The event is only for stakeholders and is not open to the press. If there are any other accommodations that would make this meeting accessible to you, please indicate in the registration form. Note that this conversation will be off-the-record and is closed to the press but will be recorded. For more information on the announcement, please see the materials below: HHS Press Release Fact Sheet on the Requirements Related to Surprise Billing II IFR with comment period Fact Sheet on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Actions to Prevent Surprise Billing Full interim final rule