Yesterday, WSHA submitted comments on stakeholder draft legislation reconciling provisions of the federal No Surprises Act (NSA) with Washington State’s Balance Billing Protection Act (BBPA). In its comments, WSHA expressed support for provisions that would align BBPA and NSA provisions and new language extending balance billing protections to emergency and crisis behavioral health services. WSHA expressed concerns regarding the NSA’s weaker payment and dispute resolution provision compared to the BBPA and expressed support for bill language strengthening, monitoring and enforcement of network adequacy requirements.
Stakeholder comments will be used by the OIC and legislators to finalize legislation expected to be introduced during the 2022 legislative session. More information and links to the stakeholder draft legislation is in our recent Fiscal Watch article.(Andrew Busz, AndrewB@wsha.org).
