The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology has filed a petition with a U.S. district court compelling Xavier Beccera, Secretary of Health and Human Services, to enforce the provider non-discrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act against insurance companies and health plans.
The non-discrimination provision was passed in 2010 to prohibit commercial payers from discriminating against providers on the basis of licensure, including setting up different reimbursement policies for those providers delivering the same high-quality healthcare services.
In 2020, the No Surprises Act required HHS to enforce policies within one year, but according to a Sept. 27 news release from AANA, there is still no enforcement in place for the non-discrimination provision.
"Unfortunately, now more than a decade later, HHS has not enforced the provider nondiscrimination provisions of the ACA which has allowed commercial payers to blatantly discriminate against providers. Enforcement is crucial to protect patients’ access to care and help lower healthcare costs," Jan Setnor, MSN, CRNA, president of the AANA, said in the release. "Until HHS steps up, commercial payors can jeopardize patients’ access to care through unchecked and discriminatory rate-setting practices, including continuing to significantly reduce reimbursement for CRNAs practicing independently."
Major insurers Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and Cigna have recently announced that CRNAs will receive 15% less than other anesthesia providers for delivering the same anesthesia services.
"These discriminatory policies often penalize hospitals or off-site ambulatory surgery centers that rely on CRNAs for patients’ anesthesia care. Even when the cost difference is not passed on to patients, it can impact the hospital’s ability to have funds for patient quality enhancements and other modernizations," Ms. Setnor said in the release.
CRNAs administer more than 58 million anesthetics and pain management services each year to patients in the U.S., and they treat a large number of patients in rural healthcare settings, according to the release.
In some states, CRNAs are the sole providers of anesthesia services in nearly 100% of rural hospitals.