American Medical Association and Partner Organizations Call for Stronger Enforcement of No Surprises Act

The American Medical Association and 111 specialty societies and state medical associations are urging administration officials to implement strong enforcement of the No Surprises Act (NSA).

In an April 27 letter, the organizations wrote to the Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services to express their “growing concern that some health plans are undermining the careful balance achieved” in the 2020 passage of the NSA. The bill was intended to shield patients from surprise medical bills. A key provision of the bill promotes fair contracting incentives for physicians and insurers through an independent dispute resolution (IDR) process.

The letter lists several examples of problematic conduct, including:

• inappropriate cost-shifting onto patients;
• misuse of technical guidance to reopen closed IDR cases;
• inclusion of ineligible claims in the IDR process;
• lack of transparency in Qualified Payment Amount calculations;
• and lack of timely and complete payments.

“Our organizations understand that implementation of such a novel patient protection statute is a complex undertaking,” the organizations state in the letter. “Fortunately, we believe that these issues can be addressed largely with increased enforcement and transparency.”

Sources:

https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-press-releases/ama-dozens-physician-groups-no-surprises-act-needs-enforcement

https://searchlf.ama-assn.org/letter/documentDownload?uri=/unstructured/binary/letter/LETTERS/lfj.zip/2026-4-27-Sign-on-letter-re-No-Surprises-Act-FINAL.pdf