AMCNO Representatives Meet with the Ohio Department of Insurance regarding Physician Ranking Legislation

Representatives from the AMCNO physician leadership met last week with the Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance, Mary Jo Hudson and several of her key staff members to discuss the AMCNO sponsored legislation regarding physician ranking programs. The AMCNO provided the Director with a detailed analysis of the purpose of the legislation along with background data on activities in other states regarding this topic. This background included the legislation that has already passed in Colorado on physician ranking as well as the agreements reached with insurance companies by the New York Attorney General. AMCNO also provided information on the physician ranking programs operating in Ohio.

The purpose of the meeting was for the AMCNO to obtain direction from the ODI regarding what role ODI would consider relative to the oversight of the insurance companies in the physician ranking process. The Director noted that oversight for this type of activity would more than likely fall under the unfair deception law. The ODI would need to review their existing authority on a matter of this type and whether or not there would need to be changes outlining how the insurance companies conducted ranking and then determine whether or not non-compliance of these rules would constitute an unfair trade practice. The ODI noted that there primary concern is to assure that the consumer is getting accurate information from the company.

The AMCNO plans to draft legislation for introduction in the 2009 legislature and once drafted, we plan to ask the ODI to consider it and what revisions they deem might be important. The AMCNO is particularly interested in an enforcement provision - whether that is through the Unfair / Deceptive Trade Practices Act or through another mechanism. The AMCNO plans to move ahead with introduction of the legislation with the input from the ODI on the enforcement issues.