The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Dec. 15 reopened the federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) portal for all surprise billing disputes, including previously initiated batched disputes, new batched disputes, and new single disputes involving air ambulances.
HHS is granting extensions for disputes affected by the temporary closure of the federal portal:
- Parties for whom the dispute initiation deadline fell between Aug. 3 and Dec. 5 will have until Jan. 16, 2024, to initiate a new batched dispute.
- Parties in the process of selecting a certified IDR entity for batched disputes while the portal was closed have until Dec. 29 to select an IDR entity.
- Initiating parties with disputes improperly batched before Aug. 3 will have one opportunity to resubmit the dispute.
Contact Director of Policy Rob Nelb, MPH, at rnelb@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0127 with questions.
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