OAR 836-053-1030: Written Information to Enrollees

(1) Each insurer must furnish written information to policyholders that is required by ORS 743.804, including but not limited to information relating to enrollee rights and responsibilities, including the right to appeal adverse benefit determinations, services, access thereto and related charges and scheduling, and access to external review, as provided in this rule. An insurer: (a) Must furnish the information regarding an individual health insurance policy to each policyholder; and (b) Must furnish the information regarding a group health insurance policy to the group policyholder for distribution to enrollees of the group policy. (2)(a) The written information described in section (1) of this rule must be included either in the policy or in other evidence of coverage that is delivered to the individual policyholder by the insurer, or in the case of a group health insurance policy, that is delivered by the insurer to the group policyholder for distribution to enrollees. (b) As used in ORS 743.804(2)(g), “continued coverage under the health benefit plan” means coverage of an ongoing course of treatment previously approved by the insurer. (c) The information required under subsection (a) of this section must include all of the following: (A) A description of the external review process, including when external review is available and how to request external review. The description must include the phone number of the Division of Financial Regulation. (B) A disclosure that when filing a request for an external review the enrollee will be required to authorize the release of any records, including medical records of the covered person that may be required to be reviewed for the purpose of reaching a decision on the external review. (C) A disclosure that the enrollee is financially responsible for benefits paid to or on behalf of an enrollee pursuant to ORS 743.804(2)(g) if the insurer’s adverse benefit determination is upheld on appeal. (D) A disclosure that the enrollee may request and receive from the insurer the information the insurer is required to disclose under ORS 743.804(5). (3) The information required by ORS 743.804 must include the following in relation to referrals for specialty care, behavioral health services, hospital services and other services, in addition to other relevant information regarding referrals: (a) If applicable, how gate keeping or access controls apply to referrals and whether and how the controls differ for specialty care, behavioral health services and hospital services; and (b) Any limitation on referrals if a plan has a defined network of participating providers and if referrals for specialty care may be limited to a portion of the network, such as to those specialists who contract with an enrollee's primary care group. (4) The information required by ORS 743.804 must include the information required by ORS 743A.012, relating to coverage of emergency medical conditions and obtaining emergency services, including a statement of the prudent layperson standard for an emergency medical condition, as that term is defined in ORS 743A.012. An insurer may meet the requirement of providing information in ORS 743A.012 by providing adequate disclosure in the information required by ORS 743.804(1) and this rule. An insurer may use the following statement regarding the use of the emergency telephone number 9-1-1, or other wording that appropriately discloses its use: “If you or a member of your family needs immediate assistance for a medical emergency, call 9-1-1 or go directly to an emergency room.” (5) The information required by ORS 743.804(1)(b) and (4) must include information regarding the use of the insurer's grievance process, including the assistance available to enrollees in filing written grievances in accordance with OAR 836-053-1090 and the utilization review appeal procedures required by ORS 743.807(2)(c). The information must be contained in a separate section and captioned in a manner that clearly indicates that the section addresses grievances and appeals. (6) The information required by ORS 743.804(1)(b) and (4) must include a notice that states the right of an enrollee to file a complaint with or seek assistance from the director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services. An insurer may use the following statement or other appropriate wording for this purpose: “You have the right to file a complaint or seek other assistance from the Division of Financial Regulation. Assistance is available: By calling 503-947-7984 or the toll-free message line at 888-877-4894; By electronic mail at: DFR.InsuranceHelp@dcbs.oregon.gov; By writing to the Division of Financial Regulation, Consumer Advocacy at: PO Box 14480; Salem, OR 97309-0405; or Through the Internet at dfr.oregon.gov/help.” (7) The information required by ORS 743.804(1) for an insurance policy providing managed health care must include a description of the procedures by which enrollees, purchasers and providers may participate in the development and implementation of insurer policy and operation. (8) The portion of the information required by ORS 743.804 that describes how an insurer makes decisions regarding coverage and payment for treatment or services must include a notice to enrollees that they may request an additional written summary of information that the insurer may consider in its utilization review of a particular condition to the extent the insurer maintains such criteria. The notice to enrollees must include the name and telephone number of the administrative section of the insurer that handles enrollee requests for information. (9) If a plan has a defined network of participating providers, the information required by ORS 743.804 must include a list of all participating primary care providers, direct access providers and all specialty care providers. For the purposes of this section, a primary care provider or direct access provider is a participating provider under the terms of the plan who an enrollee may designate as the primary care provider for the enrollee or from whom an enrollee may obtain services without referral. The list of providers must include for each provider the provider's name, professional designation, category of practice and the city in which the practice of the provider is located. (10) If a plan includes risk-sharing arrangements with physicians or other providers, the information required by ORS 743.804 must contain a statement to that effect, including a brief description of risk-sharing in general and must notify enrollees that additional information is available upon request. For the purpose of this requirement, a risk-sharing arrangement does not include a fee-for-service arrangement or a discounted fee-for-service arrangement. An insurer may use the following statement or other appropriate wording to describe risk-sharing: “This plan includes "risk-sharing" arrangements with physicians who provide services to the members of this plan. Under a risk-sharing arrangement, the providers that are responsible for delivering health care services are subject to some financial risk or reward for the services they deliver. An example of a risk-sharing arrangement is a contract between an insurer and a group of heart surgeons in which the surgeons agree to provide all of the heart operations needed by plan members and the insurer agrees to pay a fixed monthly amount for those services.” (11) If the insurer of a plan uses a mandatory closed formulary, the information required by ORS 743.804 for that plan must prominently disclose and explain the formulary provision. The disclosure and explanation must be in boldfaced type or otherwise emphasized. (12) An insurer that issues a health benefit plan must include a notice with the information required by ORS 743.804 that discloses that additional information is available to enrollees upon request. The notice must include the name and telephone number of the insurer's administrative section that handles enrollee requests for information. The notice must also include the contact described in section (6) of this rule and a statement that the following additional information may be available from the Department of Consumer and Business Services: (a) An annual summary of grievances and appeals; (b) An annual summary of utilization review policies; (c) An annual summary of quality assessment activities; (d) The results of all publicly available accreditation surveys; (e) An annual summary of the insurer's health promotion and disease prevention activities; (f) An annual summary of scope of network and accessibility of services.