AHA-supported bill would ban health plan fees for electronic fund transfers

Nov 28, 2023 - 02:48 PM
health-insurance-loss

A bipartisan group of House members Nov. 28 introduced AHA-supported legislation that would prohibit health insurers from charging fees for standard electronic fund transfers to pay health care providers for services. Commercial insurers often automatically charge health care providers a percentage-based fee for EFT payments. 

“These fees effectively reduce contracted rates and cost hospitals and health care systems substantial amounts of money that could otherwise be invested into patient care,” AHA said in a letter of support for the bill, introduced by Reps. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., Morgan Griffith, R-Va., Ami Bera, D-Calif., Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, and Kim Schrier, D-Wash. “EFT fees, which are essentially forcing hospitals to pay money to get paid, are especially egregious given all of the other financially-motivated tactics that commercial health insurers routinely use to delay or deny care for patients.”

Related News Articles

Headline
AHA challenges HRSA’s burden estimate for proposed 340B rebate model
The AHA July 14 urged the Health Resources and Services Administration to revise its estimate of the administrative burden associated with the agency’s…
Headline
AHA urges court to reject AbbVie bid to change 340B program rules
The AHA today filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Department of Health and Human Services’ motion to dismiss AbbVie’s lawsuit …
Headline
HRSA announces 340B program sales reached $100 billion in CY 2025
The Health Resources and Services Administration announced that 340B covered entities purchased $100 billion in outpatient drugs under the federal 340B Drug…
Perspective
Keeping Patient Access Front and Center in Washington
Public
As we move into the second half of 2026 and Congress returns to work in Washington, D.C., next week, lawmakers face a list of difficult issues that demand…
Headline
Deadline is July 31 for hospitals with outreach labs to report private payer clinical lab data to CMS 
Most hospital outreach laboratories have until July 31 to report required private payer clinical diagnostic laboratory data for services furnished during the…
Headline
CMS proposes increases to Medicare hospital outpatient department payment rates, site-neutral and 340B changes
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services July 2 issued a proposed rule that would increase Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system…