Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110
§300gg–132 Balance Billing in Cases of Non-emergency Services Performed by Nonparticipating Providers at Certain Participating Facilities
Title 42 › CHAPTER 6A — PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER XXV — REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE › Part E — Health Care Provider Requirements › § 300gg–132
Summary
Stops doctors or other providers who do not have a contract with your health plan from sending you extra bills for non‑emergency care you get at a hospital or other facility that does have a contract with your plan. This rule applies for plan years that start on or after January 1, 2022. You only have to pay your normal cost‑sharing (copay, coinsurance, or in‑network deductible) for those services unless the provider follows special notice and consent rules. Emergency care is not covered by this rule. If a non‑contracted provider wants you to agree to be treated and billed as out‑of‑network, they must give you a written notice and get your signed consent before the service. If you made the appointment at least 72 hours ahead, you must get the notice at least 72 hours before care. If the appointment is within 72 hours, you must get the notice when you make the appointment. The notice must include a good‑faith estimate of charges, say that consent is optional, tell you about in‑network providers at the facility, and list prior‑authorization rules. The notice must be available in the 15 most common local languages and be given in a format you choose. Your signed consent must say you got the notice, that paying may not count toward in‑network cost limits or deductibles, and record the dates. A copy must be given to you by mail or email. The facility must keep that notice for at least 7 years. Certain routine specialist and diagnostic services (like anesthesiology, radiology, pathology, neonatology, assistant surgeons, hospitalists, intensivists, lab and imaging) are treated specially, and the Secretary can change which advanced lab tests are treated differently. Definitions: participating = has a contract with the plan; nonparticipating = does not; participating facility = facility with a contract; nonparticipating facility = facility without a contract.
Full Legal Text
Title 42, §300gg–132
The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)In general
Subject to subsection (b), in the case of a participant, beneficiary, or enrollee with benefits under a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer and who is furnished during a plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2022, items or services (other than emergency services to which section 300gg–131 of this title applies) for which benefits are provided under the plan or coverage at a participating health care facility by a nonparticipating provider, such provider shall not bill, and shall not hold liable, such participant, beneficiary, or enrollee for a payment amount for such an item or service furnished by such provider with respect to a visit at such facility that is more than the cost-sharing requirement for such item or service (as determined in accordance with subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 300gg–111(b)(1) of this title of section 9816(b)(1) of title 26, and of section 1185e(b)(1) of title 29, as applicable).
(b)Exception
(1)In general
Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to items or services (other than ancillary services described in paragraph (2)) furnished by a nonparticipating provider to a participant, beneficiary, or enrollee of a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer, if the provider satisfies the notice and consent criteria of subsection (d).
(2)Ancillary services described
For purposes of paragraph (1), ancillary services described in this paragraph are, with respect to a participating health care facility—
(A)subject to paragraph (3), items and services related to emergency medicine, anesthesiology, pathology, radiology, and neonatology, whether or not provided by a physician or non-physician practitioner, and items and services provided by assistant surgeons, hospitalists, and intensivists;
(B)subject to paragraph (3), diagnostic services (including radiology and laboratory services);
(C)items and services provided by such other specialty practitioners, as the Secretary specifies through rulemaking; and
(D)items and services provided by a nonparticipating provider if there is no participating provider who can furnish such item or service at such facility.
(3)Exception
The Secretary may, through rulemaking, establish a list (and update such list periodically) of advanced diagnostic laboratory tests, which shall not be included as an ancillary service described in paragraph (2) and with respect to which subsection (a) would apply.
(c)Clarification
In the case of a nonparticipating provider that satisfies the notice and consent criteria of subsection (d) with respect to an item or service (referred to in this subsection as a “covered item or service”), such notice and consent criteria may not be construed as applying with respect to any item or service that is furnished as a result of unforeseen, urgent medical needs that arise at the time such covered item or service is furnished. For purposes of the previous sentence, a covered item or service shall not include an ancillary service described in subsection (b)(2).
(d)Notice and consent to be treated by a nonparticipating provider or nonparticipating facility
(1)In general
A nonparticipating provider or nonparticipating facility satisfies the notice and consent criteria of this subsection, with respect to items or services furnished by the provider or facility to a participant, beneficiary, or enrollee of a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer, if the provider (or, if applicable, the participating health care facility on behalf of such provider) or nonparticipating facility—
(A)in the case that the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee makes an appointment to be furnished such items or services at least 72 hours prior to the date on which the individual is to be furnished such items or services, provides to the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee (or to an authorized representative of the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee) not later than 72 hours prior to the date on which the individual is furnished such items or services (or, in the case that the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee makes such an appointment within 72 hours of when such items or services are to be furnished, provides to the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee (or to an authorized representative of the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee) on such date the appointment is made), a written notice in paper or electronic form, as selected by the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee, (and including electronic notification, as practicable) specified by the Secretary, not later than July 1, 2021, through guidance (which shall be updated as determined necessary by the Secretary) that—
(i)contains the information required under paragraph (2);
(ii)clearly states that consent to receive such items and services from such nonparticipating provider or nonparticipating facility is optional and that the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee may instead seek care from a participating provider or at a participating facility, with respect to such plan or coverage, as applicable, in which case the cost-sharing responsibility of the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee would not exceed such responsibility that would apply with respect to such an item or service that is furnished by a participating provider or participating facility, as applicable with respect to such plan; and
(iii)is available in the 15 most common languages in the geographic region of the applicable facility;
(B)obtains from the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee (or from such an authorized representative) the consent described in paragraph (3) to be treated by a nonparticipating provider or nonparticipating facility; and
(C)provides a signed copy of such consent to the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee through mail or email (as selected by the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee).
(2)Information required under written notice
For purposes of paragraph (1)(A)(i), the information described in this paragraph, with respect to a nonparticipating provider or nonparticipating facility and a participant, beneficiary, or enrollee of a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer, is each of the following:
(A)Notification, as applicable, that the health care provider is a nonparticipating provider with respect to the health plan or the health care facility is a nonparticipating facility with respect to the health plan.
(B)Notification of the good faith estimated amount that such provider or facility may charge the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee for such items and services involved, including a notification that the provision of such estimate or consent to be treated under paragraph (3) does not constitute a contract with respect to the charges estimated for such items and services.
(C)In the case of a participating facility and a nonparticipating provider, a list of any participating providers at the facility who are able to furnish such items and services involved and notification that the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee may be referred, at their option, to such a participating provider.
(D)Information about whether prior authorization or other care management limitations may be required in advance of receiving such items or services at the facility.
(3)Consent described to be treated by a nonparticipating provider or nonparticipating facility
For purposes of paragraph (1)(B), the consent described in this paragraph, with respect to a participant, beneficiary, or enrollee of a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer who is to be furnished items or services by a nonparticipating provider or nonparticipating facility, is a document specified by the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, through guidance that shall be signed by the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee before such items or services are furnished and that—
(A)acknowledges (in clear and understandable language) that the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee has been—
(i)provided with the written notice under paragraph (1)(A);
(ii)informed that the payment of such charge by the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee may not accrue toward meeting any limitation that the plan or coverage places on cost-sharing, including an explanation that such payment may not apply to an in-network deductible applied under the plan or coverage; and
(iii)provided the opportunity to receive the written notice under paragraph (1)(A) in the form selected by the participant, beneficiary or enrollee; and
(B)documents the date on which the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee received the written notice under paragraph (1)(A) and the date on which the individual signed such consent to be furnished such items or services by such provider or facility.
(4)Rule of construction
The consent described in paragraph (3), with respect to a participant, beneficiary, or enrollee of a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer, shall constitute only consent to the receipt of the information provided pursuant to this subsection and shall not constitute a contractual agreement of the participant, beneficiary, or enrollee to any estimated charge or amount included in such information.
(e)Retention of certain documents
A nonparticipating facility (with respect to such facility or any nonparticipating provider at such facility) or a participating facility (with respect to nonparticipating providers at such facility) that obtains from a participant, beneficiary, or enrollee of a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer (or an authorized representative of such participant, beneficiary, or enrollee) a written notice in accordance with subsection (d)(1)(B), with respect to furnishing an item or service to such participant, beneficiary, or enrollee, shall retain such notice for at least a 7-year period after the date on which such item or service is so furnished.
(f)Definitions
In this section: (1)
(2)The term “participating health care facility” has the meaning given such term in subsection (b)(2) of section 300gg–111 of this title.
(3)The term “nonparticipating facility” means—
(A)with respect to emergency services (as defined in section 300gg–111(a)(3)(C)(i) of this title) and a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer, an emergency department of a hospital, or an independent freestanding emergency department, that does not have a contractual relationship with the plan or issuer, respectively, with respect to the furnishing of such services under the plan or coverage, respectively; and
(B)with respect to services described in section 300gg–111(a)(3)(C)(ii) of this title and a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer, a hospital or an independent freestanding emergency department, that does not have a contractual relationship with the plan or issuer, respectively, with respect to the furnishing of such services under the plan or coverage, respectively.
(4)The term “participating facility” means—
(A)with respect to emergency services (as defined in clause (i) of section 300gg–111(a)(3)(C) of this title) that are not described in clause (ii) of such section and a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer, an emergency department of a hospital, or an independent freestanding emergency department, that has a direct or indirect contractual relationship with the plan or issuer, respectively, with respect to the furnishing of such services under the plan or coverage, respectively; and
(B)with respect to services that pursuant to clause (ii) of section 300gg–111(a)(3)(C) of this title, of section 9816(a)(3) of title 26, and of section 1185e(a)(3) of title 29, as applicable are included as emergency services (as defined in clause (i) of such section and a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer, a hospital or an independent freestanding emergency department, that has a contractual relationship with the plan or coverage, respectively, with respect to the furnishing of such services under the plan or coverage, respectively.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
42 U.S.C. § 300gg–132
Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110