# Prop. Treas. Reg. § 2590.716-9: Federal Independent Dispute Resolution Registry of Group Health Plans, Health Insurance Issuers, and Federal Employees Health Benefits Carriers. Proposed regulation, not in force. REG-122319-22, 88 FR 75744, published 2023-11-03 . 17. Section 2590.716-9 is added to subpart F to read as follows: (a) Establishment of Federal independent dispute resolution registry. The Secretary, jointly with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, will establish a Federal IDR registry consisting of the information described in paragraph (b)(2) of this section and will assign a registration number for each group health plan, health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage, and Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program carrier. The information contained in the registry will be made available to parties seeking to initiate an open negotiation or a dispute through the Federal IDR portal, and will be searchable, including by registration number. (b) Federal IDR registration— (1) Registration requirement. Each group health plan and health insurance issuer offering group health insurance coverage subject to the Federal IDR process must register with the Federal IDR registry as specified by the Secretary in guidance. Initial registration must be completed by the later of the date that is 30 business days after the effective date of the final rule, the date that is 30 business days after the registry becomes available, or the date the group health plan or health insurance issuer begins offering a group health plan or health insurance coverage subject to the Federal IDR process. (2) Required data elements. Group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group health insurance coverage subject to the registration requirement must include the following information with their registration: (i) The legal business name (if any) of the group health plan, or issuer, and, if applicable, the legal business name of the group health plan sponsor; (ii) Whether the plan or coverage is a self- or fully-insured group health plan subject to ERISA; (iii) The State(s) in which the plan or coverage is subject to a specified State law, as defined in § 2590.716-3 for any items or services for which the protections of §§ 2590.716-4, 2590.716-5, and 2590.717-1 apply; (iv) The State(s) in which the plan or coverage is subject to an All-Payer Model Agreement under section 1115A of the Social Security Act for any items or services to which the protections in §§ 2590.716-4, 2590.716-5, and 2590.717-1 apply; (v) For self-insured group health plans not otherwise subject to State law, any State(s) in which the group health plan has properly effectuated an election to opt in to a specified State law as defined in § 2590.716-3, if that State allows a plan not otherwise subject to the State law to opt-in; (vi) Contact information, including a telephone number and email address, for the appropriate person or office to initiate open negotiations for purposes of determining an amount of payment (including cost sharing) for such item or service; (vii) The 14-digit Health Insurance Oversight System (HIOS) identifier; or if the 14-digit HIOS identifier has not been assigned, the 5-digit HIOS identifier; or if no HIOS identifier is available, the plan's or the plan sponsor's Employer Identification Number (EIN) and the plan's plan number (PN), if a PN is available; (viii) Additional information needed to identify the plan or issuer and the applicable Federal and State requirements for determining appropriate out-of-network payment rates for items or services to which the protections against balance billing in this part apply, as specified by the Secretary in guidance; and (ix) Additional information needed for purposes of administrative fee collection, as specified by the Secretary in guidance. (3) Updating disclosures. A plan or issuer must timely report to the Secretary changes to the information required under this section within 30 calendar days after the information changes. A plan or issuer must confirm the accuracy of its registration annually in the fourth quarter of each calendar year. ( 4 ) Third party authority. The requirements of paragraphs (b)(1) through (3) of this section may be performed by a third party administrator or service provider with authority to act on behalf of the group health plan or health insurance issuer offering group health insurance coverage subject to the Federal IDR process. If the registration requirements are performed by such third party administrator or service provider the group health plan or health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage must require that such third party administrator or service provider clearly delineate each group health plan or health insurance issuer offering group health insurance coverage for which it has authority to act. If such third party administrator or service provider fails to provide the information in compliance with the requirements of paragraphs (b)(1) through (3) of this section the plan or issuer will be in violation of the requirements of this section. (c) Severability. (1) Any provision of this section held to be invalid or unenforceable by its terms, or as applied to any person or circumstance, shall be construed so as to continue to give maximum effect to the provision permitted by law, unless such holding shall be one of utter invalidity or unenforceability, in which event the provision shall be severable from this section and shall not affect the remainder thereof or the application of the provision to persons not similarly situated or to dissimilar circumstances. (2) The provisions in § 2590.716-9 are intended to be severable from the provisions in §§ 2590.716-6A, 2590.716-6, and 2590.716-8, from any grant of forbearance from removal resulting from this subpart, and from any provision referenced in §§ 2590.716-6A, 2590.716-6, and 2590.716-8. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Department of Health and Human Services proposes to amend 45 CFR part 149 as set forth below: