(A) If a provider, upon the oral or written request of a contracting entity to submit a credentialing form, submits a credentialing form that is not complete, the contracting entity that receives the form shall notify the provider of the deficiency electronically, by facsimile, or by certified mail, return receipt requested, not later than twenty-one days after the contracting entity receives the form.

(B) If a contracting entity receives any information that is inconsistent with the information given by the provider in the credentialing form, the contracting entity may request the provider to submit a written clarification of the inconsistency. The contracting entity shall send the request described in this division electronically, by facsimile, or by certified mail, return receipt requested.

(C)

(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (C)(2) of this section, the credentialing process under this section starts when a provider initially submits a credentialing form upon the oral or written request of a contracting entity, and the provider shall submit the credentialing form to the contracting entity electronically, by facsimile, or by certified mail, return receipt requested. Subject to division (C)(3) of this section, a contracting entity shall complete the credentialing process not later than ninety days after the contracting entity receives that credentialing form from the provider. The contracting entity shall allow the provider to submit a credentialing application prior to the provider's employment. A contracting entity that does not complete the credentialing process within the ninety-day period specified in this division is liable for either a civil penalty payable to the provider in the amount of five hundred dollars per day, including weekend days, starting at the expiration of that ninety-day period until the provider's credentialing application is granted or denied or retroactive reimbursement to the provider according to the terms of the contract for any basic health care services, specialty health care services, or supplemental health care services the provider provided to enrollees starting at the expiration of that ninety-day period until the provider's credentialing application is granted or denied. When the credentialing process of the contracting entity exceeds the ninety-day period, the contracting entity shall select the liability to which the contracting entity is subject and shall inform the provider of the contracting entity's selection.

(2) The credentialing process for a medicaid managed care plan starts when the provider submits a credentialing form and the provider's national provider number issued by the centers for medicare and medicaid services.

(3) The requirement that the credentialing process be completed within the ninety-day period specified in division (C)(1) of this section does not apply to a contracting entity if a provider that submits a credentialing form to the contracting entity under that division is a hospital.

(D) Any communication between the provider and the contracting entity shall be electronically, by facsimile, or by certified mail, return receipt requested.

(E) If the state medical board or its agent has primary source verified the medical education, graduate medical education, and examination history of the physician, or the status of the physician with the educational commission for foreign medical graduates, if applicable, the contracting entity may accept the documentation of primary source verification from the state medical board's web site or from its agent and is not required to perform primary source verification of the medical education, graduate medical education, and examination history of the physician or the status of the physician with the educational commission for foreign medical graduates, if applicable, as a condition for initially credentialing or recredentialing the physician.

Effective Date: 2008 HB125 09-23-2008 .