Virginia Legislature Working on Surprise Billing

Publication Date: Feb 6, 2020

Surprise billing continues to be an issue of significant interest, not only in Congress but also at the state level. In Virginia, HB 1546, introduced by Representatives Dawn Adams et al., would help protect patients from bills in excess of their payer’s in-network rate. The bill would also establish a dispute resolution process to resolve disputes arising from surprise bills for out-of-network services. The measure would utilize "baseball-style" arbitration to resolve disputes between health carriers and physicians. Under this approach, each party submits a proposed dollar amount to the independent dispute resolution entity, which then chooses one as the appropriate payment amount. Surprise billing is a significant concern to ASCP, and we have been working in partnership with the American Medical Association and other medical societies.

As part of this process, ASCP will be working with ASCP President-elect Kim Sanford, MD, MASCP, a medical director with Virginia Commonwealth University Health Center, to advance this legislation. ASCP looks forward to working with the Virginia Society of Pathology and other pathology and medical societies to advance this and other legislation that protect patients from unexpected bills, improve network adequacy and ensure fair reimbursement.

Other articles in the February 2020 ePolicy News:

To read more articles from ePolicy News click here.

For more information regarding ASCP's advocacy initiatives and policy positions, please contact ASCP's Center for Public Policy at (202) 408-1110.

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