A. A health maintenance organization shall have a system to provide to its members, on a 24-hour basis: (i) access to medical care or (ii) access by telephone to a physician or licensed health care professional with appropriate medical training who can refer or direct a member for prompt medical care in cases where there is an immediate, urgent need or medical emergency. Access to a nonmedical professional who provides appropriate responses to calls from members and providers concerning after-hours care and covered benefits is not sufficient to meet the requirements of this section.

B. A health maintenance organization shall reimburse a hospital emergency facility and provider, less any applicable copayments, deductibles, or coinsurance, for medical screening and stabilization services rendered to meet the requirements of the Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (42 U.S.C. § 1395dd) and related to the condition for which the member presented in the hospital emergency facility if (i) the health maintenance organization or its designee or the member's primary care physician or its designee authorized, directed, or referred a member to use the hospital emergency facility; or (ii) the health maintenance organization fails to have a system for provision of 24-hour access in accordance with subsection A above. For purposes of (i) above, a primary care physician may include a physician with whom the primary care physician has made arrangements for on-call backup coverage.

C. Each evidence of coverage provided by a health maintenance organization shall include a description of procedures to be followed by the member for emergency services, including: (i) the appropriate use of hospital emergency facilities; (ii) the appropriate use of any urgent care facilities with which the health maintenance organization may contract; (iii) the potential responsibility of the member for payment for nonemergency services rendered in a hospital emergency facility; and (iv) the member's covered benefits for emergency services, including an explanation of the prudent layperson standard included in the definition of emergency services in § 38.2-4300.

D. The provisions of this section shall not apply in any instance in which the provisions of this section are inconsistent or in conflict with a provision of Article 6 (§ 38.2-3438 et seq.) of Chapter 34.

1997, c. 139; 2011, c. 882.