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The AHA commented today on the Stopping the Outrageous Practice of Surprise Medical Bills Act (S. 1531), legislation developed by the Senate Bipartisan Working Group to address surprise medical bills. “We agree with the Working Group that it is essential to prohibit balance billing in certain scenarios and to limit the patient’s obligation to one’s in-network cost-sharing responsibilities,” AHA wrote. “Once the patient is protected, hospitals and health systems should be permitted to work with health plans to determine appropriate reimbursement. We believe there could be an important role for an independent dispute resolution process, such as the one included in the legislation with some modifications, for physician claims only, much how some states have approached surprise billing protections, including New York.”