1. No health maintenance organization or representative thereof may cause or knowingly permit the use of advertising which is untrue or misleading, solicitation which is untrue or misleading or any form of evidence of coverage which is deceptive. For purposes of this chapter:

(a) A statement or item of information shall be deemed to be untrue if it does not conform to fact in any respect which is or may be significant to an enrollee of, or person considering enrollment in, a health care plan.

(b) A statement or item of information shall be deemed to be misleading, whether or not it may be literally untrue if, in the total context in which such statement is made or such item of information is communicated, such statement or item of information may be reasonably understood by a reasonable person not possessing special knowledge regarding health care coverage, as indicating any benefit or advantage or the absence of any exclusion, limitation or disadvantage of possible significance to an enrollee of, or person considering enrollment in, a health care plan if such benefit or advantage or absence of limitation, exclusion or disadvantage does not in fact exist.

(c) An evidence of coverage shall be deemed to be deceptive if the evidence of coverage taken as a whole, and with consideration given to typography and format as well as language, shall be such as to cause a reasonable person not possessing special knowledge regarding health care plans and evidences of coverage therefor to expect benefits, services, charges or other advantages which the evidence of coverage does not provide or which the health care plan issuing such evidence of coverage does not regularly make available for enrollees covered under such evidence of coverage.

2. NRS 686A.010 to 686A.310, inclusive, shall be construed to apply to health maintenance organizations, health care plans and evidences of coverage except to the extent that the nature of health maintenance organizations, health care plans and evidences of coverage render the sections therein clearly inappropriate.

3. An enrollee may not be cancelled or not renewed except for the failure to pay the charge for such coverage or for cause as determined in the master contract.

4. No health maintenance organization, unless licensed as an insurer, may use in its name, contracts, or literature any of the words “insurance,” “casualty,” “surety,” “mutual” or any other words descriptive of the insurance, casualty or surety business or deceptively similar to the name or description of any insurance or surety corporation doing business in this State.

5. No person not certificated under this chapter shall use in its name, contracts or literature the phrase “health maintenance organization” or the initials “HMO.”

(Added to NRS by 1973, 1253)