As part of the COVID relief bills, Congress passed the No Surprises Act (NSA). This bill went into full effect on January 1, 2022. Please continue to read the information below and click on the linked information to learn more.

What this means for my practice is that any person who is not using or does not have in-network insurance benefits must receive a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) of how much services are expected to cost and how long they are likely to last.

Key provisions of the No Surprise Act include:

1. Out-of-Network Cost Transparency: Under the act, health providers and insurers are required to provide patients with clear and accurate cost estimates for out-of-network services. This helps patients understand potential costs before receiving care.

2. Surprise Medical Billing Protections: The act protects patients from receiving surprise medical bills in certain situations, such as emergency care received at out-of-network facilities or from out-of-network providers during a scheduled procedure at an in-network facility.

3. Balance Billing Restrictions: The No Surprise Act restricts healthcare providers from balance billing patients beyond what their health plan would pay for out-of-network services.

These regulations were designed to prevent surprise billing in hospital emergency departments and inpatient hospital settings, but they impact all providers, myself included. It is part of my practice that every client reads, understands and signs all practice policies prior to starting treatment. Information regarding the overall treatment process and associated fees are presented on my website. However, the NSA requires a written form to ensure each client is presented with an estimate of the cost of their services. Every private pay, non-insured, and out-of-network client will be presented with a GFE included in their intake package.

The GFE is only an estimate based on the services discussed in the previous consultation. However, throughout the course of treatment, things are subject to change so charges may differ from what is originally presented. The GFE is NOT a contract. It is simply an estimate of the total cost of your treatment at Talks with Tecii based on your provided information during the document’s creation. Your actual fees may be higher or lower than what is presented in the GFE and that does not constitute as a violation of the act.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me!

For more information, you can visit https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises