Section 500.3530 - Availability of covered services; assurance; establishment and maintenance of proximity(1) A health maintenance organization shall maintain contracts with those numbers and those types of affiliated providers that are sufficient to assure that covered services are available to its enrollees without unreasonable delay. The commissioner shall determine what is sufficient as provided in this section and as may be established by reference to reasonable criteria used by the health maintenance organization, including, but not limited to, provider-covered person ratios by specialty, primary care provider-covered person ratios, geographic accessibility, waiting times for appointments with participating providers, hours of operation, and the volume of technological and specialty services available to serve the needs of enrollees requiring technologically advanced or specialty care.(2) If a health maintenance organization has an insufficient number or type of participating providers to provide a covered benefit, the health maintenance organization shall ensure that the enrollee obtains the covered benefit at no greater cost to the enrollee than if the benefit were obtained from participating providers, or shall make other arrangements acceptable to the commissioner.(3) A health maintenance organization shall establish and maintain adequate arrangements to ensure reasonable proximity of participating providers to the business or personal residence of enrollees. In determining whether a health maintenance organization has complied with this provision, the commissioner shall give due consideration to the relative availability of health care providers in the service area.Add. 2000, Act 252, Imd. Eff. 6/29/2000 .