Section 1374.34 Of Article 5.55. Appeals Seeking Independent Medical Reviews From California Health And Safety Code >> Division 2. >> Chapter 2.2. >> Article 5.55.
1374.34
. (a) Upon receiving the decision adopted by the director
pursuant to Section 1374.33 that a disputed health care service is
medically necessary, the plan shall promptly implement the decision.
In the case of reimbursement for services already rendered, the plan
shall reimburse the provider or enrollee, whichever applies, within
five working days. In the case of services not yet rendered, the plan
shall authorize the services within five working days of receipt of
the written decision from the director, or sooner if appropriate for
the nature of the enrollee's medical condition, and shall inform the
enrollee and provider of the authorization in accordance with the
requirements of paragraph (3) of subdivision (h) of Section 1367.01.
(b) A plan shall not engage in any conduct that has the effect of
prolonging the independent review process. The engaging in that
conduct or the failure of the plan to promptly implement the decision
is a violation of this chapter and, in addition to any other fines,
penalties, and other remedies available to the director under this
chapter, the plan shall be subject to an administrative penalty of
not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each day that the
decision is not implemented. The administrative penalties shall be
paid to the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund and
shall be used for the purposes specified in Section 1341.45.
(c) The director shall require the plan to promptly reimburse the
enrollee for any reasonable costs associated with those services when
the director finds that the disputed health care services were a
covered benefit under the terms and conditions of the health care
service plan contract, and the services are found by the independent
medical review organization to have been medically necessary pursuant
to Section 1374.33, and either the enrollee's decision to secure the
services outside of the plan provider network was reasonable under
the emergency or urgent medical circumstances, or the health care
service plan contract does not require or provide prior authorization
before the health care services are provided to the enrollee.
(d) In addition to requiring plan compliance regarding
subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) the director shall review individual
cases submitted for independent medical review to determine whether
any enforcement actions, including penalties, may be appropriate. In
particular, where substantial harm, as defined in Section 3428 of the
Civil Code, to an enrollee has already occurred because of the
decision of a plan, or one of its contracting providers, to delay,
deny, or modify covered health care services that an independent
medical review determines to be medically necessary pursuant to
Section 1374.33, the director shall impose penalties.
(e) Pursuant to Section 1368.04, the director shall perform an
annual audit of independent medical review cases for the dual
purposes of education and the opportunity to determine if any
investigative or enforcement actions should be undertaken by the
department, particularly if a plan repeatedly fails to act promptly
and reasonably to resolve grievances associated with a delay, denial,
or modification of medically necessary health care services when the
obligation of the plan to provide those health care services to
enrollees or subscribers is reasonably clear.
(f) A plan's provision of prescription drugs to a Medi-Cal
beneficiary pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section
14105.33 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and in accordance with
the State Department of Health Care Services coverage policies shall
not be a ground for an enforcement action. Nothing in this article is
intended to limit a plan's responsibility to provide medically
necessary health care services pursuant to this chapter.