Tara Bannow covers hospitals, providers, and insurers. You can reach Tara on Signal at tarabannow.70.

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.”

STAT+ Exclusive Story

STAT+



This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers
Unlock this article — plus daily market-moving biopharma analysis — by subscribing to STAT+.

Already have an account? Log in

Individual plans

Group plans

View All Plans

To read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+.

Subscribe