August Webinar – The No Surprises Act Interim Final Rules

On July 1, 2021, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury, along with the Office of Personnel Management (collectively, the “Departments”), issued an interim final rule (IFR) to explain provisions of the No Surprises Act (the Act) that passed as part of sweeping COVID-19 relief legislation signed in December 2020. The Act and IFR aim to protect consumers from excessive out-of-pocket costs resulting from surprise and balance medical billing.

The webinar will provide a high-level review of:

• The requirement for group health plans to treat emergency services as in-network, without requiring pre-authorization, regardless of where they are provided.
• Patient cost-sharing requirements, such as co-insurance or a deductible, that cannot be higher for emergency and non-emergency services than if the services were provided by an in-network doctor, and the requirements related to the treatment of coinsurance or deductible as in-network.
• Issues associated with the treatment of ancillary care (like an anesthesiologist or assistant surgeon) as in-network.
• Notices that must be provided by health care providers and facilities explaining that patient consent is required to receive care on an out-of-network basis before that provider can bill at the higher out-of-network rate.

The presentation will be posted on the UBA Website the afternoon before the webinar.

Presenter

Lorie Maring is a partner in the Atlanta office of Fisher Phillips and a member of the Employee Benefits Practice Group. She has extensive experience in all areas of employee benefits, including health and welfare programs, qualified and non-qualified retirement plans and executive compensation. She routinely advises employers, including non-profit and government employers, trade associations and employee benefit insurance and risk management consultants on the complex compliance and day-to-day issues arising under ERISA and other state and federal laws governing employee benefit plans and programs.

The use of the HRCI seal confirms that this activity has met HR Certification Institute’s® (HRCI®) criteria for recertification credit pre-approval. Fisher Phillips is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®.

This series is brought to you by your Partner Firm of United Benefit Advisors—the nation’s leading independent employee benefits advisory organization, with more than 200 Partner offices in the United States, Canada, England and Ireland.