Employers that sponsor group health plans need to ensure they are in line with a new annual requirement to vouch that they are complying with a federal price transparency rule.
The reporting requirement was part of the No Surprises Act, which passed in 2021 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. It prohibits group health plans from entering into any agreement that prevents them from providing information on cost or quality of care to enrollees in the plan or referring providers. A health care provider, network or other service provider may place reasonable restrictions on the public disclosure of this information.
Group health plans must annually submit an attestation of compliance to several federal agencies via the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The first attestation was due on Dec. 31, 2023. Subsequent attestations are due by Dec. 31 of each year thereafter. The agencies recently provided detailed instructions for submitting the attestation.
If a group health plan missed the 2023 deadline, “do it ASAP. Even if it’s late, send it in,” said Anne Tyler Hall, an attorney with Hall Benefits Law in Atlanta.
Self-funded and partially self-funded health plans may satisfy the requirement by signing a written agreement under which the plan’s service provider, such as a third-party administrator, attests on its behalf. However, the health plan remains legally responsible if the third-party administrator fails to submit an attestation.
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