Ending Surprise Medical Bills
See what’s coming to help to protect patients from surprise medical bills and remove consumers from payment disputes between a provider or health care facility and their health plan.
Starting January 1, 2022, consumers will have new billing protections when getting emergency care, non-emergency care from out-of-network providers at in-network facilities, and air ambulance services from out-of-network providers. Through new rules aimed to protect consumers, excessive out-of-pocket costs will be restricted, and emergency services must continue to be covered without any prior authorization, and regardless of whether or not a provider or facility is in-network.
Currently, if consumers have health coverage and get care from an out-of-network provider, their health plan usually won’t cover the entire out-of-network cost. This could leave them with higher costs than if they’d been seen by an in-network provider. This is especially common in an emergency situation, where consumers might not be able to choose the provider. Even if a consumer goes to an in-network hospital, they might get care from out-of-network providers at that facility.
In many cases, today the out-of-network provider can bill consumers for the difference between the charges the provider bills, and the amount paid by the consumer’s health plan. This is known as balance billing. An unexpected balance bill is called a surprise bill.*
We are in network with most major health insurance companies. You will never receive a “Surprise Bill” when you have surgery by one of our participating providers.