Sec. 407.

(1) A health care corporation shall establish and maintain a complaint system which affords adequate and reasonable procedures for the expeditious resolution of written complaints initiated by members concerning any matter relating to the provisions of a certificate. At a minimum, procedures shall be developed by a corporation for the resolution of claims for reimbursement; denial, cancellations, or nonrenewals of certificates; and complaints regarding the quality of the services delivered by health care providers and health care facilities which receive reimbursement from the corporation.

(2) A health care corporation, within 30 days after receipt of written complaint, shall give a reasonable written response to each written complaint which it receives. The commissioner shall have free access, as defined in section 603(2), to complaints and responses, which shall be made available to the commissioner for inspection. If the matter complained of is reasonably believed by the complainant to be a violation of section 402 or 403, the complainant shall be entitled to a private informal managerial-level conference with the health care corporation, as provided for in section 404.

(3) The health care corporation shall maintain a complete record of all of the written complaints of its members which the corporation has received since the date of the last examination. This record shall indicate the total number of complaints; and by line of business, the nature of each complaint, the disposition of each complaint, and the time taken to process each complaint.

(4) A health care corporation shall submit to the commissioner an annual report which describes the complaint system of the corporation, and includes a compilation and analysis of the written complaints filed with the corporation, their disposition and underlying causes, and measures being implemented to alleviate those causes. The report shall be compiled in a manner which protects an individual's right to privacy with respect to medical information and shall not disclose the identity of a member by name or other personal identifier without the member's consent pursuant to section 406(1). The annual report shall be a public record.

(5) This section shall not prevent a member from seeking other remedies available by law.

History: 1980, Act 350, Eff. Apr. 3, 1981 Popular Name: Blue Cross-Blue ShieldPopular Name: Act 350