FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rep. Green Urges HHS to Issue Additional Guidance to Health Care Providers on the No Surprises Act
WASHINGTON—Today, Rep. Mark Green sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra following health care provider confusion and difficulties surrounding recent regulatory rulemaking. This regulation, issued as part of the administration’s implementation of the No Surprises Act, requires health care providers to provide good faith estimates of expected charges for uninsured/self-pay patients.
An excerpt from the letter reads, “Mental health providers are especially concerned that the requirement to provide a good faith estimate within one business day could force them to make a premature diagnosis of a client and provide an estimate of the number of sessions required for treatment.… I request that you work with Congress and affected health care providers to provide clarity and appropriately tailor implementation of federal law to ensure that efforts to encourage price transparency do not impose unnecessary and intrusive requirements on health care providers that serve uninsured or self-pay clients. Specifically, I would request that HHS issue additional rulemaking or guidance to accommodate providers who are already providing cost disclosure to their patients through other means such as informed consent documents and other initial patient paperwork.”
Rep. Green said, “As a member of Congress, I have a responsibility to conduct oversight of the executive branch to ensure that federal agencies are implementing legislation in a manner that is consistent with congressional intent and avoids any unnecessary confusion or burdens for those required to comply with federal law. It is crucial that Secretary Becerra immediately provide clarity for our nation’s health care providers and issue additional guidance.”
Read the full letter here.
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