STAT+: HaloMD’s legal win highlights the difficulty of challenging arbitration decisions

Arbitration decisions, it turns out, are like cockroaches. They’re very hard to kill.  It’s a long held truism in the legal world, and it was underscored this week when a federal judge shot down a health insurer’s lawsuit challenging No Surprises Act arbitration decisions.

The ruling doesn’t bode well for other pending lawsuits challenging awards doled out under the 2020 law’s arbitration process, known as independent dispute resolution.   “You can’t second guess the arbitrators,” said Chris Deacon, a health policy consultant and former lawyer. “That’s the whole point of arbitration.” Continue to STAT+ to read the full story...