The American College of Emergency Physicians brought on four lobbyists from Holland & Knight after senators presented a bill to protect Americans from balance billing practices, according to an Oct. 2 disclosure form.
Two weeks prior to the filing, a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a bill aimed at preventing out-of-network providers from charging patients more for emergency care than in-network rates. Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Tom Carper, D-Del.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, support the bill, and are all part of a working group that aims to improve healthcare price transparency. Under the proposal, insurers would pay additional emergency charges instead of patients.
An ACEP spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Becker's, "ACEP, like many other associations and groups, has always used consultants to supplement its efforts, and now, with a new public affairs division director, made a decision to use Holland and Knight."
The organization added it "has been working on a legislative strategy on surprise bills (even prior to the Senate's Bipartisan Price Transparency Workgroup discussion draft), so naturally we will be working together with our consultants on this issue as well as many others that are important to emergency physicians and patients."
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