Excellus BCBS Broker News Vol. 19 No. 11 - Special Issue

Gag Clause Prohibition Attestation Under the Consolidated Appropriation Act

The gag clause prohibition under the Consolidate Appropriations Act (CAA) prohibits health plans from entering into contracts that restrict specific data and information that a plan can make available to another party. Plans must annually submit an attestation that they have not entered into any prohibited contractual restrictions.

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (Excellus BCBS) has determined that they will be completing the attestation on behalf of their fully insured and minimum premium groups for the time they had Excellus BCBS coverage in 2024. If any additional information is required to submit the attestation, they will work with you and the group to obtain it.

Once the gag clause attestations are complete, a confirmation of attestation will be available to groups, upon request.

If you receive any gag clause attestation inquiries from these groups, please let them know Excellus BCBS will be completing the attestation on their behalf by the due date of December 31, 2024.

For self-funded groups, Excellus BCBS will supply a Certificate of Compliance that they can use to file directly with CMS. Account managers of self-funded groups will provide the Certificate of Compliance via email on or around November 15, 2024.