Sydra vs an IDR attorneySame federal process. You keep the 20 percent.
An IDR attorney files the same federal disputes your billing team can. The difference is the bill. Most contingency arrangements keep about 20 percent of every recovery, for as long as you use them. Here is the comparison, with the fee math you can run yourself.
The fee math
What a 20 percent attorney would take.
Drag the sliders to match your practice. The estimate uses published CMS win rates and Georgetown CHIR award benchmarks, not a Sydra performance claim.
Uses CMS published win rates (88%) and Georgetown CHIR median award benchmarks. Not a Sydra performance claim.
Estimated annual recovery
$14,256,000
Per month
$1,188,000
A 20% attorney would take
$2,851,200/yr
You keep it with Sydra.
What the 20 percent actually costs.
A contingency fee feels painless because it comes out of money you were not collecting before. But it scales with your success and it never ends. The better your win rate, the more the percentage takes, every month, on every recovery.
Software you operate is a flat platform fee. As your volume grows, your cost per dispute falls instead of rising. The slider below uses the same published benchmarks as our recovery estimate, so you can see the annual difference for your own numbers.
Who controls the work.
With an attorney, you hand over the file and wait. You see the outcome, not the reasoning. With Sydra, your billing team prepares the submission, reviews every decision, and files it. The work stays in your office and the relationship with the payer stays yours.
When an attorney still makes sense.
We will not pretend a lawyer is never the right call. If a dispute escalates into litigation, or you have a one off claim and no interest in building a repeatable process, counsel can be the better fit. For practices with steady out of network volume that want to keep the recovery, software your team runs is usually the lower cost path.
Bring a recent denied claim. We will show you what Sydra prepares and what you would keep at your volume.
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Related reading: IDR attorney vs software, in depth.
Questions about cost and control
How much do IDR attorneys charge?
Is software cheaper than an attorney?
Do I lose protection by not using a lawyer?
Sourced references
- 1. CMS Federal IDR Q1/Q2 2025 Public Use FileReleased January 21, 2026cms.gov/nosurprises/policies-and-resources/reports
- 2. Georgetown University CHIR · Health Affairs webinarMarch 2026 — 3.4 million disputes through June 2025; 88% win rate; median award ~4.5x in network rate
- 3. Zelis — NSA IDR Eligibility ChallengesMarch 2026 — 44% of 2024 IDR cases challenged as ineligible by non initiating party
- 4. ACEP analysis of CMS data~10% of eligible claims estimated to reach IDR arbitration
- 5. Brookings Institution NSA Arbitration DatabookApril 2026brookings.edu/articles/no-surprises-act-arbitration-databook
- 6. ACR — Providers Prevail in Vast Majority of IDR ClaimsJanuary 2026 — 88% of disputes found in provider's favor; 87% of awards exceeded QPA
- 7. No Surprises Act: Public Law 116-260, Division BB, Title I
- 8. Federal IDR regulations: 45 CFR Part 149ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-F/part-149
- 9. CMS No Surprises Act overviewcms.gov/nosurprises
- 10. HHS HIPAA for professionalshhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals
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Schedule a 15 minute walkthrough. No commitment. We show you what Sydra generates from a recent case.