Washington, D.C., October 27, 2025 – The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) and employee benefit industry groups today urged The U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the Tri-Departments) to take immediate action to address severe negative consequences of the Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process under the No Surprises Act. Despite the Act’s clear goals of protecting patients from surprise medical bills and fostering fair payment negotiations, employers warn that certain providers have increasingly exploited the IDR process.
“The purpose of the IDR process is to provide a structured way to resolve payment disputes between health plans and providers. Unfortunately, what we’ve seen in practice is providers submitting claims for services not subject to IDR or inflating billed charges. This behavior doesn’t reflect the spirit of the law and increases health care costs for everyone,” said Melissa Bartlett, Senior Vice President of Health Policy for ERIC. “If providers continue to treat the IDR process like a payment slot machine, American workers and their families will bear these costs through higher premiums, deductibles, and cost-sharing. We urge you to act now to end this abuse.”
The employers called on the Tri-Departments to take three immediate steps to restore the legitimacy of the IDR system, including:
- Strengthen enforcement to ensure only eligible claims are submitted to IDR.
- Increase transparency in arbitration decisions and require clear rationale when awards deviate from the qualified payment amount (QPA).
- Penalize abuse by providers who repeatedly submit ineligible claims.
Read the entire employer letter here.