(a) In order to prevent the improper selling, leasing, or transferring of a health care providerâs contract, it is the intent of the Legislature that every arrangement that results in any payor paying a health care provider a reduced rate for health care services based on the health care providerâs participation in a network or panel shall be disclosed by the contracting agent to the provider in advance and shall actively encourage employees to use the network, unless the health care provider agrees to provide discounts without that active encouragement. (b) Beginning July 1, 2000, every contracting agent that sells, leases, assigns, transfers, or conveys its list of contracted health care providers and their contracted reimbursement rates to a payor, as defined in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (d), or another contracting agent shall, upon entering or renewing a provider contract, do all of the following: (1) Disclose whether the list of contracted providers may be sold, leased, transferred, or conveyed to other payors or other contracting agents, and specify whether those payors or contracting agents include workersâ compensation insurers or automobile insurers. (2) Disclose what specific practices, if any, payors utilize to actively encourage employees to use the list of contracted providers when obtaining medical care that entitles a payor to claim a contracted rate. For purposes of this paragraph, a payor is deemed to have actively encouraged employees to use the list of contracted providers if the employer provides information directly to employees during the period the employer has medical control advising them of the existence of the list of contracted providers through the use of a variety of advertising or marketing approaches that supply the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of contracted providers to employees; or in advance of a workplace injury, or upon notice of an injury or claim by an employee, the approaches may include, but are not limited to, the use of provider directories, the use of a list of all contracted providers in an area geographically accessible to the posting site, the use of wall cards that direct employees to a readily accessible listing of those providers at the same location as the wall cards, the use of wall cards that direct employees to a toll-free telephone number or Internet Web site address, or the use of toll-free telephone numbers or Internet Web site addresses supplied directly during the period the employer has medical control. However, Internet Web site addresses alone shall not be deemed to satisfy the requirements of this paragraph. Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent contracting agents or payors from providing only listings of providers located within a reasonable geographic range of an employee. A payor who otherwise meets the requirements of this paragraph is deemed to have met the requirements of this paragraph regardless of the employerâs ability to control medical treatment pursuant to Sections 4600 and 4600.3. (3) Disclose whether payors to which the list of contracted providers may be sold, leased, transferred, or conveyed may be permitted to pay a providerâs contracted rate without actively encouraging the employees to use the list of contracted providers when obtaining medical care. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to require a payor to actively encourage the employees to use the list of contracted providers when obtaining medical care in the case of an emergency. (4) Disclose, upon the initial signing of a contract, and within 15 business days of receipt of a written request from a provider or provider panel, a payor summary of all payors currently eligible to claim a providerâs contracted rate due to the providerâs and payorâs respective written agreements with any contracting agent. (5) Allow providers, upon the initial signing, renewal, or amendment of a provider contract, to decline to be included in any li
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