Section 1797.98c.

(a) Physicians and surgeons wishing to be reimbursed shall submit their claims for emergency services provided to patients who do not make any payment for services and for whom no responsible third party makes any payment.

(b) If, after receiving payment from the fund, a physician and surgeon is reimbursed by a patient or a responsible third party, the physician and surgeon shall do one of the following:

(1) Notify the administering agency, and, after notification, the administering agency shall reduce the physician and surgeon's future payment of claims from the fund. In the event there is not a subsequent submission of a claim for reimbursement within one year, the physician and surgeon shall reimburse the fund in an amount equal to the amount collected from the patient or third-party payer, but not more than the amount of reimbursement received from the fund.

(2) Notify the administering agency of the payment and reimburse the fund in an amount equal to the amount collected from the patient or third-party payer, but not more than the amount of the reimbursement received from the fund for that patient's care.

(c) Reimbursement of claims for emergency services provided to patients by any physician and surgeon shall be limited to services provided to a patient who does not have health insurance coverage for emergency services and care, cannot afford to pay for those services, and for whom payment will not be made through any private coverage or by any program funded in whole or in part by the federal government, with the exception of claims submitted for reimbursement through Section 1011 of the federal Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, and where all of the following conditions have been met:

(1) The physician and surgeon has inquired if there is a responsible third-party source of payment.

(2) The physician and surgeon has billed for payment of services.

(3) Either of the following:

(A) At least three months have passed from the date the physician and surgeon billed the patient or responsible third party, during which time the physician and surgeon has made two attempts to obtain reimbursement and has not received reimbursement for any portion of the amount billed.

(B) The physician and surgeon has received actual notification from the patient or responsible third party that no payment will be made for the services rendered by the physician and surgeon.

(4) The physician and surgeon has stopped any current, and waives any future, collection efforts to obtain reimbursement from the patient, upon receipt of moneys from the fund.

(d) A listing of patient names shall accompany a physician and surgeon's submission, and those names shall be given full confidentiality protections by the administering agency.

(e) Notwithstanding any other restriction on reimbursement, a county shall adopt a fee schedule and reimbursement methodology to establish a uniform reasonable level of reimbursement from the county's emergency medical services fund for reimbursable services.

(f) For the purposes of submission and reimbursement of physician and surgeon claims, the administering agency shall adopt and use the current version of the Physicians' Current Procedural Terminology, published by the American Medical Association, or a similar procedural terminology reference.

(g) Each administering agency of a fund under this chapter shall make all reasonable efforts to notify physicians and surgeons who provide, or are likely to provide, emergency services in the county as to the availability of the fund and the process by which to submit a claim against the fund. The administering agency may satisfy this requirement by sending materials that provide information about the fund and the process to submit a claim against the fund to local medical societies, hospitals, emergency rooms, or other organizations, including materials that are prepared to be posted in visible locations.

(Amended by Stats. 2005, Ch. 671, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2006.)