Subdivision 1. Unauthorized provider services. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (c), unauthorized provider services occur when an enrollee receives services:

(1) from a nonparticipating provider at a participating hospital or ambulatory surgical center, when the services are rendered:

(i) due to the unavailability of a participating provider;

(ii) by a nonparticipating provider without the enrollee's knowledge; or

(iii) due to the need for unforeseen services arising at the time the services are being rendered; or

(2) from a participating provider that sends a specimen taken from the enrollee in the participating provider's practice setting to a nonparticipating laboratory, pathologist, or other medical testing facility.

(b) Unauthorized provider services do not include emergency services as defined in section 62Q.55, subdivision 3.

(c) The services described in paragraph (a), clause (2), are not unauthorized provider services if the enrollee gives advance written consent to the provider acknowledging that the use of a provider, or the services to be rendered, may result in costs not covered by the health plan.

Subd. 2. Prohibition. (a) An enrollee's financial responsibility for the unauthorized provider services shall be the same cost-sharing requirements, including co-payments, deductibles, coinsurance, coverage restrictions, and coverage limitations, as those applicable to services received by the enrollee from a participating provider. A health plan company must apply any enrollee cost sharing requirements, including co-payments, deductibles, and coinsurance, for unauthorized provider services to the enrollee's annual out-of-pocket limit to the same extent payments to a participating provider would be applied.

(b) A health plan company must attempt to negotiate the reimbursement, less any applicable enrollee cost sharing under paragraph (a), for the unauthorized provider services with the nonparticipating provider. If a health plan company's and nonparticipating provider's attempts to negotiate reimbursement for the health care services do not result in a resolution, the health plan company or provider may elect to refer the matter for binding arbitration, chosen in accordance with paragraph (c). A nondisclosure agreement must be executed by both parties prior to engaging an arbitrator in accordance with this section. The cost of arbitration must be shared equally between the parties.

(c) The commissioner of health, in consultation with the commissioner of the Bureau of Mediation Services, must develop a list of professionals qualified in arbitration, for the purpose of resolving disputes between a health plan company and nonparticipating provider arising from the payment for unauthorized provider services. The commissioner of health shall publish the list on the Department of Health website, and update the list as appropriate.

(d) The arbitrator must consider relevant information, including the health plan company's payments to other nonparticipating providers for the same services, the circumstances and complexity of the particular case, and the usual and customary rate for the service based on information available in a database in a national, independent, not-for-profit corporation, and similar fees received by the provider for the same services from other health plans in which the provider is nonparticipating, in reaching a decision.

History: 2017 c 2 art 2 s 13; 2017 c 13 art 2 s 6