(March 8, 2016, 10:52 AM EST) -- NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 18 in an unpublished opinion that the Texas Prompt Payment Act’s (TPPA) mandatory payment deadlines do not apply to administrators of self-funded plans, and the appeals court vacated the lower court ruling that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act does not preempt those deadlines, insofar as the deadlines apply to third-party administrators of self-funded health insurance plans (Aetna Life Insurance Company v. Methodist Hospitals of Dallas, et al., No. 15-10210, 5th Cir.; 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 2808)....