{"id":4641,"date":"2026-05-20T12:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T12:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/texas-sb-2544-out-of-network-facilities-now-face-a-hard-deadline-to-request-mediation-hendershot-cowart-p-c\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T12:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T12:39:11","slug":"texas-sb-2544-out-of-network-facilities-now-face-a-hard-deadline-to-request-mediation-hendershot-cowart-p-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/texas-sb-2544-out-of-network-facilities-now-face-a-hard-deadline-to-request-mediation-hendershot-cowart-p-c\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas SB 2544: Out-of-Network Facilities Now Face a Hard Deadline to Request Mediation | Hendershot Cowart P.C."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

If your hospital, ambulatory surgery center, freestanding emergency room, or birthing center bills commercial health plans for out-of-network services in Texas, a new law has fundamentally changed how long you have to dispute an underpayment.<\/p>\n

Texas Senate Bill 2544, which took effect June 20, 2025, closes a significant gap in the state’s out-of-network dispute resolution framework. It imposes a mandatory 180-day deadline for facility providers to request mediation under Texas Insurance Code Chapter 1467. Miss that window, and your dispute is no longer eligible for mediation \u2013 and you lose the right to bring a civil action to recover what you are owed.<\/p>\n

What SB 2544 Changes \u2013 and Why It Matters<\/b><\/p>\n

Texas Insurance Code Chapter 1467<\/u> has required out-of-network facility providers to complete the Texas Department of Insurance’s (TDI) mandatory mediation process<\/u> before filing a civil lawsuit over a billing dispute with a TDI-regulated health benefit plan. Until now, there was no hard deadline to request that mediation. That loophole is now gone.<\/p>\n

SB 2544 amends the Texas Insurance Code to establish a clear filing window: out-of-network facility providers must request mandatory mediation no later than 180 days after receiving an initial payment<\/b> for the disputed healthcare service or supply.<\/p>\n

This change brings facility providers in line with the existing 90-day mandatory arbitration lookback period that already applied to out-of-network non-facility providers \u2013 physicians and physician groups \u2013 under the same Chapter 1467 framework. The legislature’s intent was to create a consistent, time-limited dispute resolution system and prevent the practice of submitting large batches of stale claims years after services were rendered.<\/p>\n

Who SB 2544 Affects<\/b><\/p>\n

The 180-day mediation deadline applies to out-of-network facility providers disputing payments from:<\/p>\n