Zelis^® NSA Claim Advantage^℠

The No Surprises Act protects patients from certain surprise medical bills, also known as balance billing, when they receive emergency services, certain non-emergency services at in-network facilities from out-of-network providers, or covered air ambulance services.

The No Surprises Act affects payers, TPAs, healthcare providers and patients. Health plans and TPAs must manage compliance, cost estimates and dispute resolution. Providers must follow balance billing restrictions and participate in regulated dispute processes. Patients receive protections from certain surprise bills.

Keep reading: NSA Compliance – A Guide for Payers and Providers

The No Surprises Act generally applies to emergency services, certain non-emergency services delivered at in-network facilities by out-of-network providers and air ambulance services. In these cases, patients typically pay only their in-network cost share.

Balance billing occurs when an out-of-network provider bills a patient for the difference between the provider’s charge and the amount paid by the health plan. The No Surprises Act limits this practice for certain covered services.

QPA stands for Qualifying Payment Amount. Under the No Surprises Act, it is used as a key reference point for patient cost sharing and may influence payment negotiations and IDR outcomes.

Payment often starts with the Qualifying Payment Amount (QPA), generally based on the median in-network rate for comparable services in a geographic area. If the payer and provider do not agree through open negotiation, the dispute may move to Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR).

Open negotiation is the period when payers and providers attempt to resolve a qualifying, disputed out-of-network payment before the case escalates to IDR. Strong data, defensible pricing and automated workflows can help reduce unnecessary escalation.

Disputes generally move from an initial reimbursement offer to open negotiation. If the parties cannot agree, either party may initiate independent dispute resolution (IDR) through the Federal portal, where both sides submit offers and a certified IDR entity selects one.

Common challenges include ineligible disputes, misbundled services, missing or incorrect information, missing open negotiation records, sensitive data exposure and missed response deadlines. Each issue can create delays, increase administrative burden or weaken the payer’s position in IDR. 

Baseball-style arbitration means each party submits a payment offer and the certified IDR entity selects one of the submitted offers rather than creating a compromise amount. This makes defensible pricing, documentation and negotiation strategy especially important.

Rising IDR volume can increase administrative work, create fee exposure, strain internal teams and make reimbursement outcomes harder to predict. Ineligible disputes and missed deadlines can add further cost and operational burden.

Common challenges include ineligible disputes, misbundled services, missing or incorrect information, missing open negotiation records, sensitive data exposure and missed response deadlines. Each issue can create delays, increase administrative burden or weaken the payer’s position in IDR.

Ineligible disputes can consume payer resources, increase administrative costs and create unnecessary arbitration activity. Identifying disputes that do not qualify for the federal IDR process helps reduce avoidable escalation.

Open negotiation records help show that the parties attempted to resolve the payment dispute before IDR. Missing records can make it harder to demonstrate compliance with process requirements and support the payer’s position.

IDR deadlines are strict. Missing response deadlines can lead to default or technical losses and negatively affect dispute outcomes. Workflow automation and deadline monitoring can help payers respond on time.

Zelis NSA Claim Advantage^SM gives health plans a clear, connected approach to No Surprises Act dispute management. With AI-native workflow orchestration, real-time performance visibility, defensible pricing support and embedded NSA expertise, Zelis helps payers cut avoidable IDR exposure, maximize win rates and defend reimbursement decisions across the full dispute lifecycle.

Zelis helps identify and object to ineligible or unsupported disputes earlier, apply data-backed negotiation strategies and use structured workflows to meet deadlines and resolve more cases before they escalate to IDR.

When IDR is unavoidable, Zelis supports deadline compliance, document preparation, IDRE selection and communication, offer defensibility and expert review to help strengthen payer submissions and improve outcomes.

Zelis connects pricing, open negotiation, IDR management, expert oversight and reporting in one performance model. That helps payers manage the full lifecycle, not only the final IDR event.

No. The solution is configurable. Zelis can support plan-owned QPA logic, apply our proprietary median in-network rate or help fill gaps where additional pricing support is needed.

HaloMD is a healthcare technology company that helps out-of-network providers manage IDR and optimize financial performance under the No Surprises Act and state balance billing laws. Their platform is provider-facing, though their IDR activity directly affects payer workflows and payer-provider dynamics.