The North Carolina Medical Society supports protecting patients from unanticipated bills due to non-network medical services through up-front, equitable financial arrangements.

The North Carolina Medical Society supports the following actions to protect patients:

• Discontinue attempts to fix surprise bills on a case-by-case basis through any post-service reconciliation process for insured patients.
• Require robust network adequacy standards and up-front arbitration of contracts between physicians/providers and insurers before services are rendered to prevent non-network medical bills for insured patients.
• Maintain the existing shared principles of holding the patient harmless, providing fair compensation for medical services, and protecting access to care for patients.
• Study ways to address similar concerns for the uninsured.