Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 45, November 9, 2024
Section 9.724 - Plan-IDS contracts(a) A plan may contract with an IDS for the provision of care by IDS participating health care providers to plan enrollees. The contract between the plan and the IDS shall be in compliance with the requirements of this subchapter.(b) The plan shall provide a copy of the IDS contract to the Department for review and approval. An IDS contract not based on an approved standard contract shall be submitted to the Department for review and approval. An IDS contract shall be reviewed by the Department in accordance with § 9.722(a) (relating to plan and health care provider contracts). If the IDS contract is based on a standard form contract, the plan shall provide the Department with notice of the contract, including the name, address and description of the IDS, before the effective date of the contract.(c) The plan shall submit the IDS's standard provider contract to the Department for review and approval before the effective date of the IDS contract. If an IDS's providers have executed plan-provider contracts instead of IDS-provider contracts, the plan shall provide the Department with written notice of those contracts before the effective date of the IDS contract.(d) For the Department to approve a contract between the plan and the IDS, the contract must meet the following standards: (1) An IDS, assuming financial risk from a plan, is not required to obtain its own license to assume the risk, provided that the ultimate responsibility for benefits and services to enrollees, as set forth in the enrollee contract, remains the responsibility of the plan.(2) If a person or entity is delivering prepaid basic health care services to enrollees, but not soliciting or enrolling members in a plan, that person or entity is not required to obtain a certificate of authority. If the person or entity is delivering prepaid basic health care services and performing administrative services or other similar functions, but not soliciting or enrolling plan members, that person or entity is not required to obtain a certificate of authority.(3) The IDS shall acknowledge and agree that under no circumstance shall provision of covered services to enrollees be delayed, reduced, denied or otherwise hindered because of the financial or contractual relationship between the plan and the IDS or between the IDS and the participating health care providers.(4) The IDS shall acknowledge and agree that only those IDS participating health care providers who meet the plan's credentialing and provider contracting standards may participate and provide services to enrollees and that the ultimate authority to approve or terminate IDS health care providers is retained by the plan.(5) The IDS shall acknowledge and agree that the plan is required to establish, operate and maintain a health care services delivery system, quality assurance system, provider credentialing system, enrollee complaint and grievance system, and other systems meeting Department standards and that the plan is directly accountable to the Department for compliance with the standards and for provision of quality, cost-effective care to plan enrollees. Nothing in the plan-IDS contract may limit the plan's authority or responsibility to meet standards or to take prompt corrective action to address a quality of care problem, resolve an enrollee complaint or grievance, or to comply with a regulatory requirement of the Department.(6) The IDS shall agree to provide the plan and the Department with access to medical and other records concerning the provision of services to enrollees by the IDS through its participating health care providers. The IDS shall agree to permit and cooperate with onsite reviews by the Department for purposes of monitoring the effectiveness of the IDS performance of any plan-delegated functions.(7) The IDS shall agree that any delegation of authority or responsibility, in part or in full, for provider credentialing and relations, quality assessment, UR and other plan functions to the IDS shall be subject to performance monitoring by the plan and Department, and is subject to independent validation by the plan, the Department, or an independent quality review organization or CRE approved by the Department.(8) The IDS shall agree to collect and provide the plan with utilization, financial and other data for the purposes of monitoring and comparative performance analysis.(9) The IDS shall agree to comply with data reporting requirements, including encounter, utilization and reimbursement methodology required by the Department.(10) The IDS shall obtain and maintain Department certification as a CRE if performing UR activities in Subchapter K (relating to CREs) and sections 2151 and 2152 of the act (40 P. S. §§ 991.2151 and 2152).(11) The IDS contract shall contain enrollee financial hold-harmless provisions acceptable to the Department which prevent the IDS and IDS participating health care providers from billing plan enrollees for covered services (other than authorized co-payments, co-insurance, or deductibles) under any circumstances including insolvency of the plan or the IDS.(12) The IDS contract shall safeguard patient access to care and avoid significant disruption of service delivery by adequately providing for continuation of services by IDS participating health care providers to plan enrollees if the IDS contractual agreement is in any way jeopardized, suspended, terminated or unexpectedly not renewed. In the event of termination, the plan shall ensure continuity of care for those affected enrollees, under Act 68 and § 9.684 (relating to continuity of care).(13) If the plan and IDS agree to include a termination without cause provision in the contract between the plan and the IDS, neither party shall be permitted to terminate the contract without cause upon less than 60 days prior written notice.(14) Any delegation of medical management shall meet the requirements of § 9.675 (relating to delegation of medical management).