Certification of Additional Federal Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) Entities
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The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury (the Departments) are announcing the certification of two additional independent dispute resolution (IDR) entities, Capitol Bridge, LLC and Livanta LLC (DBA: Commence). Expanding the number of certified IDR entities from 13 to 15 is expected to increase IDR throughput and represents an important step in continuing to improve the Federal IDR process.
Review the list of certified independent dispute resolution entities, including the two additional entities.
The No Surprises Act created protections against out-of-network balance billing for consumers and established a Federal IDR process that providers (including air ambulance providers), facilities, health plans and issuers can use to determine the payment rates for certain out-of-network charges. During the Federal IDR process, disputing parties select a third-party arbitrator, known as a certified IDR entity, to resolve their dispute. The certified IDR entity must select one of the disputing parties’ payment offers as the appropriate out-of-network payment rate.
Organizations certified as IDR entities have demonstrated to the Departments that they have the experience and staffing to adjudicate disputes fairly and impartially. As a part of the application process, IDR entities must demonstrate sufficient background and experience in arbitration and claims administration of health care services, managed care, billing and coding, medical and legal expertise to make payment determinations. IDR entities must also demonstrate, among other things, the ability to ensure that no conflicts of interest exist, maintain fiscal integrity, comply with applicable regulations, and protect sensitive information.
The Federal IDR process has experienced unexpectedly high volume since its launch in 2022, but the Departments and IDR entities have made significant progress in addressing this high volume, with dispute closures equaling dispute initiations for the first time during Q2 2024, as shown in the Federal IDR PUF for 2024 Q2 (as of March 18, 2025). The Departments look forward to building on this progress with the addition of these two new certified IDR entities.
