(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that a simplified, cost-efficient system of administration of this chapter be developed so that the maximum amount of funds may be utilized to reimburse physicians and surgeons and for other emergency medical services purposes. The administering agency shall select an administering officer and shall establish procedures and time schedules for the submission and processing of proposed reimbursement requests submitted by physicians and surgeons. The schedule shall provide for disbursements of moneys in the Emergency Medical Services Fund on at least a quarterly basis to applicants who have submitted accurate and complete data for payment. When the administering agency determines that claims for payment for physician and surgeon services are of sufficient numbers and amounts that, if paid, the claims would exceed the total amount of funds available for payment, the administering agency shall fairly prorate, without preference, payments to each claimant at a level less than the maximum payment level. Each administering agency may encumber sufficient funds during one fiscal year to reimburse claimants for losses incurred during that fiscal year for which claims will not be received until after the fiscal year. The administering agency may, as necessary, request records and documentation to support the amounts of reimbursement requested by physicians and surgeons and the administering agency may review and audit the records for accuracy. Reimbursements requested and reimbursements made that are not supported by records may be denied to, and recouped from, physicians and surgeons. Physicians and surgeons found to submit requests for reimbursement that are inaccurate or unsupported by records may be excluded from submitting future requests for reimbursement. The administering officer shall not give preferential treatment to any facility, physician and surgeon, or category of physician and surgeon and shall not engage in practices that constitute a conflict of interest by favoring a facility or physician and surgeon with which the administering officer has an operational or financial relationship. A hospital administrator of a hospital owned or operated by a county of a population of 250,000 or more as of January 1, 1991, or a person under the direct supervision of that person, shall not be the administering officer. The board of supervisors of a county or any other county agency may serve as the administering officer. The administering officer shall solicit input from physicians and surgeons and hospitals to review payment distribution methodologies to ensure fair and timely payments. This requirement may be fulfilled through the establishment of an advisory committee with representatives comprised of local physicians and surgeons and hospital administrators. In order to reduce the county’s administrative burden, the administering officer may instead request an existing board, commission, or local medical society, or physicians and surgeons and hospital administrators, representative of the local community, to provide input and make recommendations on payment distribution methodologies.
(b) Each provider of health services that receives payment under this chapter shall keep and maintain records of the services rendered, the person to whom rendered, the date, and any additional information the administering agency may, by regulation, require, for a period of three years from the date the service was provided. The administering agency shall not require any additional information from a physician and surgeon providing emergency medical services that is not available in the patient record maintained by the entity listed in subdivision (f) where the emergency medical services are provided, nor shall the administering agency require a physician and surgeon to make eligibility determinations.
(c) During normal working hours, the administering agency may make any inspection and examination of a hospital’s or physician and surgeon’s books and records needed to carry out this chapter. A provider who has knowingly submitted a false request for reimbursement shall be guilty of civil fraud.
(d) Nothing in this chapter shall prevent a physician and surgeon from utilizing an agent who furnishes billing and collection services to the physician and surgeon to submit claims or receive payment for claims.
(e) All payments from the fund pursuant to Section 1797.98c to physicians and surgeons shall be limited to physicians and surgeons who, in person, provide onsite services in a clinical setting, including, but not limited to, radiology and pathology settings.
(f) All payments from the fund shall be limited to claims for care rendered by physicians and surgeons to patients who are initially medically screened, evaluated, treated, or stabilized in any of the following:
(1) A basic or comprehensive emergency department of a licensed general acute care hospital.
(2) A site that was approved by a county prior to January 1, 1990, as a paramedic receiving station for the treatment of emergency patients.
(3) A standby emergency department that was in existence on January 1, 1989, in a hospital specified in Section 124840.
(4) For the 1991–92 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, a facility which contracted prior to January 1, 1990, with the National Park Service to provide emergency medical services.
(5) A standby emergency room in existence on January 1, 2007, in a hospital located in Los Angeles County that meets all of the following requirements:
(A) The requirements of subdivision (m) of Section 70413 and Sections 70415 and 70417 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.
(B) Reported at least 18,000 emergency department patient encounters to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development in 2007 and continues to report at least 18,000 emergency department patient encounters to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development in each year thereafter.
(C) A hospital with a standby emergency department meeting the requirements of this paragraph shall do both of the following:
(i) Annually provide the State Department of Public Health and the local emergency medical services agency with certification that it meets the requirements of subparagraph (A). The department shall confirm the hospital’s compliance with subparagraph (A).
(ii) Annually provide to the State Department of Public Health and the local emergency medical services agency the emergency department patient encounters it reports to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to establish that it meets the requirement of subparagraph (B).
(g) Payments shall be made only for emergency medical services provided on the calendar day on which emergency medical services are first provided and on the immediately following two calendar days.
(h) Notwithstanding subdivision (g), if it is necessary to transfer the patient to a second facility providing a higher level of care for the treatment of the emergency condition, reimbursement shall be available for services provided at the facility to which the patient was transferred on the calendar day of transfer and on the immediately following two calendar days.
(i) Payment shall be made for medical screening examinations required by law to determine whether an emergency condition exists, notwithstanding the determination after the examination that a medical emergency does not exist. Payment shall not be denied solely because a patient was not admitted to an acute care facility. Payment shall be made for services to an inpatient only when the inpatient has been admitted to a hospital from an entity specified in subdivision (f).
(j) The administering agency shall compile a quarterly and yearend summary of reimbursements paid to facilities and physicians and surgeons. The summary shall include, but shall not be limited to, the total number of claims submitted by physicians and surgeons in aggregate from each facility and the amount paid to each physician and surgeon. The administering agency shall provide copies of the summary and forms and instructions relating to making claims for reimbursement to the public, and may charge a fee not to exceed the reasonable costs of duplication.
(k) Each county shall establish an equitable and efficient mechanism for resolving disputes relating to claims for reimbursements from the fund. The mechanism shall include a requirement that disputes be submitted either to binding arbitration conducted pursuant to arbitration procedures set forth in Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1282) and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 1285) of Part 3 of Title 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure, or to a local medical society for resolution by neutral parties.
(l) Physicians and surgeons shall be eligible to receive payment for patient care services provided by, or in conjunction with, a properly credentialed nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant for care rendered under the direct supervision of a physician and surgeon who is present in the facility where the patient is being treated and who is available for immediate consultation. Payment shall be limited to those claims that are substantiated by a medical record and that have been reviewed and countersigned by the supervising physician and surgeon in accordance with regulations established for the supervision of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in California.
(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 288, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2009.)