Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

Payment disputes can often arise between businesses that pay healthcare providers for their services ( such as health maintenance organizations, indemnity insurers and the like) and healthcare providers and vendors. These parties want an efficient and cost-effective dispute resolution system to address their disputes. As a result, new arbitration rules were developed by the AAA Healthcare Dispute Resolution Advisory Council. This article explains how the rules came about, how they differ from the AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules, and the benefits of this special process.

Given the complexity and sensitivity of business relationships in the healthcare industry, arbitration is an increasingly favored means of dispute resolution. Arbitration clauses are routinely found in a variety of commercial healthcare relationships from relocation agreements,1 to physician employment agreements, and to service provider agreements.