Ama Policy

Discrimination Against Physicians by Health Care Plans H-285.985

10/15/2019
Credentialing-Due Process-Denial of Contract

Our AMA: (1) will develop draft federal and model state legislation requiring managed care plans and third party payers to disclose to physicians and the public, the selection criteria used to select, retain, or exclude a physician from a managed care or other provider plans;

(2) will request an advisory opinion from the Department of Justice on the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to selective contracting decisions made by managed care plans or other provider plans;

(3) will support passage of federal legislation to clarify the Americans With Disabilities Act to assure that coverage for interpreters for the hearing impaired be provided for by all health benefit plans. Such legislation should also clarify that physicians practicing in an office setting should not incur the costs for qualified interpreters or auxiliary aids for patients with hearing loss unless the medical judgment of the treating physician reasonably supports such a need;

(4) encourages state medical associations and national medical specialty societies to provide appropriate assistance to physicians at the local level who believe they may be treated unfairly by managed care plans, particularly with respect to selective contracting and credentialing decisions that may be due, in part, to a physician’s history of substance abuse; and

(5) urges managed care plans and third party payers to refer questions of physician substance abuse to state medical associations and/or county medical societies for review and recommendation as appropriate.

Policy Timeline

BOT Rep. 18, I-93 Appended by BOT Rep. 28, A-98 Reaffirmation A-99 Reaffirmation A-00 Reaffirmed: BOT Rep. 6, A-10 Reaffirmed in lieu of Res. 110, A-13