(a) The Department of Public Health shall, within available appropriations, establish a program to purchase and maintain malpractice liability insurance for the following professionals and retired professionals who have been licensed by the state of Connecticut for a minimum of one year, whose licenses are in good standing and who provide primary health care services at community health centers and at other locations authorized by the department: Physicians, dentists, chiropractors, optometrists, podiatrists, naturopaths, psychologists, dental hygienists, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. The following conditions shall apply to the program:

(1) Primary health care services shall only be provided at community health centers or at other locations as determined by the department, located in public investment communities, as defined in subdivision (9) of subsection (a) of section 7-545;

(2) Primary health care services provided shall be offered to low-income patients based on their ability to pay;

(3) Professionals providing health care services shall not receive compensation for their services;

(4) Professionals must provide not less than one hundred fifty hours per year of such primary health care services; and

(5) The department shall contract with a liability insurer authorized to offer malpractice liability insurance in this state or with the Connecticut Primary Care Association or other eligible primary health care providers to purchase insurance for professionals working in primary health care settings. The Connecticut Primary Care Association may subcontract with community health centers to purchase malpractice liability insurance for eligible professionals providing primary care services at the community health centers. Liability insurance shall be purchased only from a provider authorized to offer malpractice liability insurance in this state.

(b) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to require a liability insurer to provide coverage to a professional should the insurer determine that coverage should not be offered to a professional because of past claims experience or for other appropriate reasons.

(c) The department may provide liability insurance under this section only to the extent funds are appropriated for this purpose by the General Assembly.

(May Sp. Sess. P.A. 94-3, S. 22, 28; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; 95-271, S. 35, 40; P.A. 06-196, S. 146; P.A. 14-187, S. 31.)

History: May Sp. Sess. P.A. 94-3 effective July 1, 1994; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 95-271 limited the department's mandate to provide a program to be within available appropriations, deleted limitation to “retired” professionals and the requirement that the department maintain a portion of malpractice insurance, changed applicability from just physicians to all listed medical professionals and expanded Subdiv. (5) beyond malpractice liability insurers to include the Connecticut Primary Care Association and subcontracting, and deleted former Subsec. (c), which allowed monitoring of claims; P.A. 06-196 made a technical change in Subsec. (a), effective June 7, 2006; P.A. 14-187 amended Subsec. (b) to delete reference to Sec. 19a-17n, effective June 11, 2014.