Uniform provider credentialing for health maintenance organizations (HMOs)
See bold sections below:
A. Delegation of credential verification activities: Whenever an HMO delegates credential verification activities to a contracting entity, whether a credentialing intermediary or subcontractor, the HMO shall review and approve the contracting entity’s credential verification program before contracting and shall require that the entity comply with all applicable requirements of this regulation. The HMO shall monitor the contracting entity’s credential certification activities. The HMO shall implement oversight mechanisms, including (a) reviewing the contracting entity’s credential verification plans, policies, procedures, forms, and adherence to verification procedures, (b) requiring the contract entity to submit an updated list of health professionals no less frequently than quarterly, and (c) conducting an evaluation of the contracting entity’s credential verification program at least every two years. The HMO’s monitoring activities should at least meet the verification procedures and standards as defined by the national committee for quality assurance (NCQA).
B. Credential verification program: In order to assure accessibility and availability of services, each HMO shall establish a program in accordance with this regulation that verifies that its network providers are credentialed before the HMO lists those providers in the HMO’s provider directory, handbooks, or other marketing or member materials. The credential verification program established by each HMO shall provide for an identifiable person or persons to be responsible for all credential verification activities, which person or persons shall be capable of carrying out that responsibility.
C. Written credential verification plan: Each HMO shall develop and adopt a written credentialing plan that contains policies and procedures to support the credentialing verification program. The plan shall include the purpose, goals and objectives of the credential verification program; and the roles of those persons responsible for the credential verification program.
D. Use of uniform credentialing forms required: Beginning September 1, 2009, an HMO shall not use any health professional credentialing application form other than uniform HSC or CAQH credentialing or re-credentialing forms. Should the superintendent determine that these forms no longer represent industry standards, the superintendent will issue a bulletin advising of alternative forms to be used to satisfy this requirement. The uniform credentialing or re-credentialing forms may be used in electronic or paper format, as determined by the HMO. An HMO shall not require an applicant to submit information not required by the uniform credentialing or re-credentialing forms. An exception is made for health professionals who: (a) are subject to credentialing under the HMO’s internal policy; (b) practice outside of New Mexico; and (c) prefer to use the credentialing forms required by their respective states. In such circumstances, the HMO and its delegated entity, if any, may accept those forms.
Credentialing-Deadlines
E. Verification of credentials: Each HMO shall maintain a process to assess and verify the qualifications of health professionals applying to become participating providers with the HMO within 45 calendar days of receipt of a completed uniform credentialing form. Each HMO’s process for verifying credentials shall take into account and make allowance for the time required to request and obtain primary source verifications and other information that must be obtained from third parties in order to authenticate the applicant’s credentials, and shall make allowance for the scheduling of a final decision by a credentialing committee, if the HMO’s credentialing program requires such review.
(1) Within 45 calendar days after receipt of a completed application and all supporting documents, the HMO shall assess and verify the applicant’s qualifications and notify the applicant of its decision. If, by the 45th calendar day after receipt of the application, the HMO has not received all of the information or verifications it requires from third parties, or date-sensitive information has expired, the HMO shall issue a written notification, through standard mail, fax, electronic mail or other agreed-upon writing, to the applicant either closing the application and detailing the HMO’s attempts to obtain the information or verification, or pending the application and detailing the HMO’s attempts to obtain the information and verifications. If the application is held, the HMO shall inform the applicant of the length of time the application will be pending. The notification shall include the name, address and telephone number of a credentialing staff person who will serve as a contact person for the applicant.
(2) Within 10 working days after receipt of an incomplete application, the HMO shall notify the applicant in writing of all missing or incomplete information or supporting documents.
(a) The notice to the applicant shall include a complete and detailed description of all of the missing or incomplete information or documents that must be submitted in order for review of the application to continue. The notification shall include the name, address, and telephone number of a credentialing staff person who will serve as the contact person for the applicant.
(b) Within 45 calendar days after receipt of all of the missing or incomplete information or documents, the HMO shall assess and verify the applicant’s qualifications and notify the applicant of its decision, in accordance with Subsection E of this section.
(c) If the missing information or documents have not been received within 45 calendar days after initial receipt of the application or if date-sensitive information has expired, the HMO shall close the application or delay final review, pending receipt of the necessary information. The HMO shall provide written notification to the applicant of the closed or pending status of the application and, where applicable, the length of time the application will be pending. The notification shall include the name, address, and telephone number of a credentialing staff person who will serve as the contact person for the applicant.
(3) If an HMO elects not to include an applicant in its network, for reasons that do not require review of the application, the HMO shall provide written notice to the applicant of that determination within 10 working days after receipt of the application.
(4) Nothing in this regulation shall require an HMO to include a health professional in its network or prevent an HMO from conducting a complete review and verification of an applicant’s credentials, including an assessment of the applicant’s office, before agreeing to include the applicant in its network.
(5) Nothing in this regulation shall be deemed to supersede any provision of a contract between an HMO and a health professional participating as a provider in the HMO’s network.
(6) HMOs must notify a provider at least 120 days in advance of all items necessary to complete recredentialing. The HMO must complete the recredentialing process within 45 days of receipt of the provider’s complete recredentialing application and all supporting documents.
F. Health professional files: Each HMO shall maintain centralized files, either paper or electronic, on each health professional making application to be a participating provider in the HMO’s network. Each file shall include documentation of compliance with this regulation.
G. Records and examinations: Each HMO shall maintain all records related to credential verification in a manner that the HMO deems to be adequate for a period of six years and shall make such records available to the superintendent on request.
H. Accreditation by nationally recognized accrediting entity: Nothing in this section shall prohibit an HMO from submitting accreditation by a nationally recognized accrediting entity as evidence of compliance with the requirements of this section. In those instances where an HMO seeks to meet the requirements of this section through accreditation by a private accrediting entity, the HMO shall submit to the division the following information: 1) current standards of the private accrediting entity in order to demonstrate that the entity’s standards meet or exceed the requirements of this rule; 2) documentation from the private accrediting entity showing that the HMO has been accredited by the entity; and 3) a summary of the data and information that was presented to the private accrediting entity by the HMO and upon which accreditation of the HMO was based. An HMO accredited by the private accrediting entity that has submitted all of the requisite information to the division may then be deemed by the superintendent to have met the requirements of the relevant provisions of this section where comparable standards exist, provided that the private accrediting entity from which the HMO obtained accreditation is recognized and approved by the superintendent.