NEW! AAA 2022 HEALTHCARE PAYOR PROVIDER ARBITRATION RULES AND
MEDIATION PROCEDURES

The amended AAA Healthcare Payor Provider Rules and Mediation Procedures, effective October 1, 2022, represents a two-year endeavor by the AAA healthcare advisory council, an internal AAA working group.

The amended rules standardize important longstanding AAA practices—confidentiality, consideration of consolidation/joinder motions, and civility—as well as revise rules to further promote efficiency, reflect advances in technology, and include where appropriate discussions regarding cybersecurity.

Summary of Significant Arbitration Rule Amendments

New Rules

• Consolidation: AAA’s first-ever healthcare payor provider rule for the consolidation of existing arbitrations or the joinder of additional parties
• Confidentiality: Captures the long-standing requirements of the Code of Ethics for Arbitrators by including a commitment to the confidentiality of arbitration in the Rules
• Conduct of parties and their representatives: Specifically incorporates into the Rules the AAA’s expectations of civility and professionalism of all participants in arbitrations
• Providing arbitrators with the authority to interpret awards: Draws upon the recently adopted ICDR article that allows the arbitrator to explain the award on a party’s motion
• The importance of cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection: Reflects the weight that the AAA places on cybersecurity and recommends that data protection be discussed in the preliminary hearing

Additional significant amendments to the arbitration rules include:

• Expanded preliminary hearing rule to include a meet and confer
  
• Expanding arbitral authority to determine the method of proceedings
  (Building on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, certain Rules now give the arbitrator the express authority to compel the use of video or electronic means for some or all of the hearing.)
• Strengthening limitations on motion practice and discovery in the Expedited Procedures

To view the AAA^® Healthcare Payor Provider Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures, amended and effective October 1, 2022, click here.