No Surprises Act, vaccine mandates will impact ophthalmic practice
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WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — The No Surprises Act will impact some ophthalmic practices, particularly those with an ASC, Allison W. Shuren, MSN, JD, said during a presentation here.
“It impacts your ASC and impacts your practice a bit,” Shuren said during a presentation at Hawaiian Eye 2022. “I've seen on a few listervs that I monitor some confusion about whether or not this really relates to ophthalmology and relates to practice — and it does.”
The act, Shuren explained, allows the federal government to step in and help patients who incur large medical bills they were not expecting. Shuren noted that 20% of all ER visits may involve some form of out of network bill a patient did not know about or agree to.
Ophthalmologists tend to already be “attuned to” talking with patients about paying out of pocket, Shuren said, emphasizing that under the act patients must be provided with "good faith estimates" for out of network costs.
“If you have anesthesia in your ASC that are out of network, your ASC must be prepared to explain [costs] to patients in advance,” Shuren said.
Shuren also discussed the CMS vaccine mandate, and noted that ASCs residing in the 24 states that fall under the mandate for federally-funded facilities should be prepared for the upcoming vaccination deadlines.
“There's nowhere else to go, so if you're in those 24 states and you have ASCs, I would start planning for the vaccine protocols.”
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Shuren AW. Healthcare law. Presented at: Hawaiian Eye; Jan. 15-21, 2022; Waikoloa, Hawaii.
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