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February 25, 2008 issue
Insurance
BILL: HB 1055 – Assignment of Benefits
AUTHOR: Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary
SPONSOR: Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield
ISMA POSITION: Support
THIS WEEK: The Senate Health and Provider Services Committee voted 11-0 to approve the bill.
HB 1055 would require insurers to honor a patient’s request for assignment of benefits to an out-of-network provider. It was amended in committee to require a non-network physician to notify the patient conspicuously in writing that he/she may receive a bill for the balance of charges for health care services.
An amendment that would limit assignment to services provided in a facility in an emergency and on-call situation only was rejected by the committee.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SENATOR AND URGE SUPPORT OF HB 1055!! The Senate switchboard number is (800) 383-9467.
BILL: SB 159 – Silent PPOs
AUTHOR: Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield
SPONSOR: Rep. Phil Hoy, D-Evansville
ISMA POSITION: Support
THIS WEEK: SB 159 passed the full House 92-0.
The bill would require conspicuous language in a physician contract if a network intends to sell a physician’s discounted reimbursement rate to third parties. The network would be required to maintain a Web site or toll-free phone number listing all networks to whom the contracting network has sold the discount.
SB 159 also would require third parties who purchase the discount to include contact information on explanation of benefits statements for the network that sold the discount. Finally, the bill would prohibit aggregators from selling or leasing physician reimbursement rates.
The bill now awaits Senate approval of the amended version of the bill.
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