Senate bill would allow dental offices to jointly negotiate with insurers, shift arbitration to OAH

Senate Bill 2,375 would let two or more dental providers in a dental insurerservice area jointly negotiate with the insurer and use the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) to arbitrate disputes, sponsor Sen. Jose Castaneda told the Senate Human Services Committee.

The bill, introduced to the Human Services Committee, would move the authority in statute from the Insurance Commissioner to the OAH, and would permit the OAH to accept payment from nongovernmental entities for arbitration services. Castaneda said the change is intended to help small, independent dental practices that receive "take it or leave it" contract offers from carriers and have limited ability to negotiate terms that affect administrative processes such as virtual credit card fees, prior authorization and retroactive denials.

Supporters including the North Dakota Dental Association and practicing dentists said many providers operate as small businesses and often cannot negotiate effectively with carriers that contract on behalf of tens of thousands of covered lives. William Sherwin of the North Dakota Dental Association told the committee that the…