The stories of Americans affected by surprise medical bills are hard to believe. A teacher with insurance was taken to an out-of-network medical facility when he suffered a heart attack and was charged $108,951 out-of-pocket for his care. A college student was charged $17,850 for a urine test after her...

On July 29, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that includes proposals to update payment policies, payment rates, and quality provisions for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on or after January 1, 2020.

As the industry grapples with solutions for high patient financial responsibility and healthcare costs, it has become laser-focused on one key, unifying issue: surprise medical billing.

In a legal lawsuit, one party is initially presumed to be correct and gets the benefit of the doubt, while the other side bears the burden of proof. When a party bearing the burden of proof meets its burden, it switches to the other side.

Tina R. Strawn, RN, administrative director of operations for patient financial services at Houston-based Harris Health System, has 27 years of healthcare experience. Throughout her career, she has worked in patient care, bed management, transfer center coordination, case management, nurse auditing, denial management, charge...