Christine Cooper, Founder and CEO, aequum and Co-Chair of SIIA's Price Transparency Committee Presents at SIIA Healthcare Price Transparency Forum, February 2024
aequum LLC, serving more than 425 self-insured health plans and their participants, today announces that Christine Cooper, founder and CEO, aequum and co-chair of the Self-Insurance Institute of America, Inc. (SIIA) Price Transparency Committee has been invited to speak at the association's highly anticipated Healthcare Price Transparency Forum on February 26-27, 2024 at JW Marriott in Charlotte, NC. This event serves as a vital platform for industry leaders to discuss the importance of transparency and navigating complex issues ranging from the latest policy and compliance discussions to innovative ways of tackling the cost of care and prescription drugs.
"I am honored to lead this esteemed committee and to contribute to discussions that are crucial in bringing price transparency throughout the healthcare ecosystem," says Cooper. "Transparency is pivotal to ensure that patients are given the opportunity to make informed decisions about their healthcare. This event opens opportunities to collaborate with fellow industry leaders who are advocating for solutions, and we expect to address challenges facing self-insured plans and service providers. Our intent is to empower stakeholders with opportunities for handling disputes regarding out-of-network care under the No Surprises Act (NSA)."
Cooper is a panelist on February 27, 2024, 1:15-2:15 PM during the session entitled, ?Surprise Billing Arbitration: The Future of Uncertainty.' The discussion centers around the No Surprises Act (NSA), a national call for healthcare pricing transparency and providing patient protection against surprise medical bills. Panelists will address the last year of challenges for self-insured plans and their service providers to defend against disputes initiated by providers over out-of-network care. With fits and starts and changes to the Federal IDR process and the development of the qualifying payment amount (QPA), attendees will gain valuable insights and learn where this is headed.
"The government so significantly underestimated the number of surprise bills that would be taken through the Federal IDR Process," she observed. "Between April 15, 2022 and March 31, 2023, 334,828 disputes were initiated despite CMS' estimation that 17,000 claims would enter the IDR process each year. That's a fourteen-fold difference and we don't expect to see any change in 2024."
Cooper calls for more education that prepares both plans and plan participants to utilize the tools available that empower them to effectively navigate the process and become more informed healthcare decision-makers.
Ryan Work, senior vice president of Government Relations at SIIA, who will be moderating several of the panels, explains, "As a critical topic to our members, SIIA hosts this annual Forum to ensure the industry has the most updated understanding and tools at their disposal. Transparency is about the future of employer-sponsored care, meaning plans are paying the right price for the correct patient care, in addition to doing all they can collectively to effectively manage rising costs."
About aequum, LLC
Founded in 2020, aequum LLC serves third-party administrators, medical cost management companies, stop-loss carriers, employer-sponsored health plans and brokers nationwide to protect plan participants, improve employee satisfaction with their health care plans, and generate plan and participant cost savings. aequum LLC helps patients defend medical balance bills and brings savings to employer-sponsored health plans by providing administrative and other services to its partners. In addition, its sister organization, Koehler Fitzgerald LLC, provides legal advocacy to plan participants. Visit aequumhealth.com.
News published on and distributed by:
