Mid-Atlantic Health Law TOPICS

Property & Casualty Insurer Panels: Did you know that, effective October 1, 2009, Maryland health care providers will be free to join a property or casualty provider panel, including a workers compensation panel, without being required to accept low reimbursement rates for other panels. This new Maryland law also requires property and casualty provider panels to delineate the fees they pay for the 50 most common procedure codes charged by the practitioner. Similar Maryland laws affecting panels and codes already apply to health insurance carriers and HMOs.

Billing Pap Tests: Did you know that, effective October 1, 2009, if a Maryland obstetrician or gynecologist acts ethically in billing for a pap test, and discloses in the bill the name of the laboratory, the amount paid to the laboratory, and the physician's processing charge, then the Ob-Gyn may bill and collect for the pap test. In 2008, the Maryland General Assembly approved an anatomic pathology billing law that inadvertently prohibited Maryland Ob-Gyns from administering and billing for pap tests, and this new 2009 law is intended to correct that mistake.