The Oregon Medical Association (OMA) is supporting legislation to prevent the exclusion of qualified medical providers from the preferred provider panels of health insurance organizations.
The association's support came in the form of a resolution introduced by Dr. Paul Meunier, medical director of Body Imaging Radiology in Portland, OR, and Dr. Gerald Warnock, founder and medical director of EPIC Imaging in Portland, whose facilities have brought an antitrust suit against Portland-based Providence Health System. The resolution supporting the new law was approved at an OMA House of Delegates meeting.
House Bill 3456 would prohibit a health insurer offering a preferred provider network from denying physicians, medical labs, and other providers the right to participate in those panels as long as they are willing to meet the terms and conditions of the insurer.
Similar legislation has been adopted in other states to varying degrees, according to Warnock and Meunier. Generally referred to as "any willing provider" legislation, similar bills have been adopted in Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Wyoming. Fifteen other states have limited legislation pertaining to pharmacies only.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
May 4, 2005
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