What is a qualifying payment amount (QPA)?

The QPA, the qualifying payment amount, is what the plan calls its median in-network rate for the service, and the plan calculates it from its own contracts (42 U.S.C. § 300gg-111(a)(3)(E); 45 CFR 149.140). For care the No Surprises Act protects, your share is generally figured on the lesser of the QPA and the billed charge under the federal law (the recognized amount: 42 U.S.C. § 300gg-111(a)(3)(H); 45 CFR 149.30). Where a state’s own law reaches both your plan and the care, that law sets the amount instead: for a plan an insurer issued in the state where you were treated, if that state has such a law, or for a self-funded plan on that state’s opt-in list (42 U.S.C. § 300gg-111(a)(3)(I); 45 CFR 149.30).

What is the QPA? — answered from the law, on provern.org