CMS Instructs some billing arbitration decisions to resume following court ordered pause

Following the issue of a court-ordered pause to out-of-network payment dispute arbitration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is now instructing arbitrators to resume determinations for care that occurred prior to Oct. 25, 2022.

The notice, published Friday, tells Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) entities to refer to instructions laid out in CMS’ October 2021 interim final rules. That guidance has now been “revised” following early February’s decision from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and a prior ruling from July 2022, CMS said.