The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology said July 21 that a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruling wrongly declined to force HHS to enforce a provider nondiscrimination provision that protects certified registered nurse anesthetists from reduced insurance reimbursement.
“We disagree with today’s ruling and are disappointed that the court will not compel [HHS] to enforce the provider nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act, which was later reinforced in the bipartisan No Surprises Act,” AANA President Jeff Molter, MSN, MBA, CRNA, said in a July 21 statement. “HHS should have acted years ago.”
The Sixth Circuit based its ruling on associational standing, upholding a lower court’s finding that AANA lacked standing to bring the case. Mr. Molter said AANA is evaluating what the decision means for how trade associations pursue their members’ interests in federal court and is urging other associations to do the same.
Mr. Molter said the ruling does not endorse insurers’ practice of reimbursing CRNAs less than physician anesthesiologists for the same services. He called the decision procedural and said AANA maintains that such reduced reimbursement remains unlawful and discriminatory under current statute.
AANA said it will keep working with state partners to curb discriminatory CRNA reimbursement while it weighs further federal legal options, extending a fight the group has waged since filing its original HHS enforcement petition in September 2024.
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