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Virginia Administrative Code
Title 14. Insurance
Agency 5. State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Insurance
Chapter 216. Rules Governing Internal Appeal and External Review
11/21/2024

14VAC5-216-30. General requirements.

A. Each health carrier offering a health benefit plan shall establish and maintain an internal appeals procedure in accordance with this chapter, 29 USC § 2560.503-1, and 45 CFR 147.136 to provide a full and fair review of any adverse benefit determination.

B. As part of each health carrier's health benefit plan and any adverse benefit determination, each health carrier shall provide notice of its available internal appeals procedures (including urgent care appeals), including timeframes for submission of an appeal, the health carrier's review and response. Such notice shall also include the name, address, and telephone number of the person or organizational unit designated to coordinate the review of the appeal for the health carrier, and contact information for the Bureau of Insurance. If the plan is a managed care health insurance plan (MCHIP), the mailing address, telephone number, and email address for the Office of the Managed Care Ombudsman shall also be included.

C. The internal appeals procedure shall not contain any provision, or be administered in a way that unduly inhibits or hampers the initiation or processing of claims for benefits.

D. The internal appeals procedure shall provide for an authorized representative of a covered person to act on behalf of the covered person in pursuing a benefit claim or appeal of an adverse benefit determination. A health carrier may establish reasonable procedures for determining whether an individual has been authorized to act on behalf of a covered person. In the case of an urgent care appeal, a health care professional shall be permitted to act as the authorized representative of the covered person, in accordance with this chapter.

E. The internal appeals procedure shall contain administrative processes and safeguards designed to ensure and to verify that benefit determinations are made in accordance with the provisions of the health benefit plan and, where appropriate, the health benefit plan provisions have been applied consistently with respect to similarly situated covered persons.

Statutory Authority

§ 12.1-13 and 38.2-223 of the Code of Virginia.

Historical Notes

Derived from Virginia Register Volume 27, Issue 22, eff. July 1, 2011.

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