The American College of Radiology (ACR) has spoken out against Anthem's proposed 10% payment penalty on out-of-network clinicians.
In a November 5 letter to Anthem, the ACR, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) urged the insurer to abandon the policy, set to take effect in January 2026, writing that it "threatens to remove sites from Anthem’s network for continued use of out-of-network clinicians."
The policy is a "blatant attempt to subvert the federal No Surprises Act (NSA), which already provides a fair and balanced mechanism to resolve facility-insurer OON care payment issues, keeping patients entirely out of the process," the three organizations wrote, and is "deeply flawed and operationally unworkable."
"It effectively shifts Anthem’s network adequacy obligations onto facilities, holding them financially liable for the contracting status of independent physician groups -- an area over which they have no control or infrastructure to manage," they concluded.
