The federal regulators, including the Office of Personnel Management, achieved their statutory deadline today for issuing the first round of No Surprises Act implementing rules. Here’s the regulators’ output, compliments of the Labor Department:

• Interim Final Rule and Request for Comments, available at https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/temporary-postings/requirements-related-to-surprise-billing-interim-final-rule.pdf See pages 163 to 165 for an overview of OPM’s FEHB rules.
• Model Notice [about the law’s requirements to be posted and shared with health plan members, available at https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/laws-and-regulations/laws/consolidated-appropriations-act/surprise-billing-model-notice.docx
• Fact Sheet for Consumers, available at https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/what-you-need-know-about-biden-harris-administrations-actions-prevent-surprise-billing
• Fact Sheet for Group Health Plans and Health Insurance Issuers, available at https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/requirements-related-surprise-billing-part-i-interim-final-rule-comment-period
• HHS News Release, available at https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/07/01/hhs-announces-rule-to-protect-consumers-from-surprise-medical-bills.html

There is no doubt in the FEHBlog’s mind that the regulators did a fine job of making a silk purse out of sow’s ear / the poorly drafted statute. This rule will help carriers and providers meet the January 1, 2022, launch date. This law, if properly implemented, and signs are looking good now, will protect consumers from surprise medical bills, which was clearly Congress’s objective, but without creating an IT nightmare.

The regulators plan a second round of No Surprises Act rules for October 1, 2021. The second round will focus on the independent dispute resolution process.

From the COVID-19 front —

• The New York Times reports that “The Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine is effective against the highly contagious Delta variant, even eight months after inoculation, the company reported on Thursday — a finding that should reassure the 11 million Americans who have gotten the shot. The vaccine showed a small drop in potency against the variant, compared with its effectiveness against the original virus, the company said. But the vaccine was more effective against the Delta variant than the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa — the pattern also seen with mRNA vaccines.”
• Medscape informs us that “The White House on Thursday announced it will send “strike teams” to 1000 counties where the COVID-19 Delta variant is spreading rapidly. The teams will be made up of health and logistics experts from several federal agencies and will conduct coronavirus testing, distribute medicines designed to fight the virus, and boost local and state efforts to increase vaccinations.”

In Thursday Miscellany —

• GoodRx is tracking prescription drug manufacturer price changes which typically are made effecting January 1 and July 1.
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “is proposing actions that aim to close health equity gaps by providing Medicare patients battling End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) with greater access to care, through the ESRD Prospective Payment System (PPS) annual rulemaking. This proposed rule would update ESRD PPS payment rates, make changes to the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP), and modify the ESRD Treatment Choices (ETC) Model.  The proposed changes to the ETC Model policies would aim to encourage dialysis providers to decrease disparities in rates of home dialysis and kidney transplants among ESRD patients with lower socioeconomic status, making the model the agency’s first CMS Innovation Center model to directly address health equity.”
• The Aetna Foundation and U.S. News and World Report released their 2021 healthiest U.S. communities rankings this week.