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- Title
Access to In-Network Emergency Physicians and Emergency Departments Within Federally Qualified Health Plans in 2015.
- Authors
Dorner, Stephen C.; Camargo Jr., Carlos A.; Schuur, Jeremiah D.; Raja, Ali S.
- Abstract
Introduction: Under regulations established by the Affordable Care Act, insurance plans must meet minimum standards in order to be sold through the federal Marketplace. These standards to become a qualified health plan (QHP) include maintaining a provider network sufficient to assure access to services. However, the complexity of emergency physician (EP) employment practices - in which the EPs frequently serve as independent contractors of emergency departments, independently establish insurance contracts, etc... - and regulations governing insurance repayment may hinder the application of network adequacy standards to emergency medicine. As such, we hypothesized the existence of QHPs without in-network access to EPs. The objective is to identify whether there are QHPs without in-network access to EPs using information available through the federal Marketplace and publicly available provider directories. Results: In a national sample of Marketplace plans, we found that one in five provider networks lacks identifiable in-network EPs. QHPs lacking EPs spanned nearly half (44%) of the 34 states using the federal Marketplace. Conclusion: Our data suggest that the present regulatory framework governing network adequacy is not generalizable to emergency care, representing a missed opportunity to protect patient access to in-network physicians. These findings and the current regulations governing insurance payment to EPs dis-incentivize the creation of adequate physician networks, incentivize the practice of balance billing, and shift the cost burden to patients.
- Publication
Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health, 2016, Vol 17, Issue 1, p18
- ISSN
1936-900X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5811/westjem.2015.12.29188