Dive Brief:
- The Washington state insurance department has approved a new rule demanding that health insurers meet certain standards in their networks.
- Among other things, the rule requires that insurers have enough doctors and facilities covered to avoid unreasonable delays in care, as well as a wide array of community providers — in essence requiring them to broaden their networks.
- Insurers also will have to explain specifically what costs members have to bear, outline their referral and authorization practices, and state whether emergency department doctors at an in-network hospital are also in the network.
Dive Insight:
According to FierceHealthcare, insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler said the rule came partly as a result of the growing use of narrow networks in health plans sold on the insurance exchanges. Kreidler moved ahead with the rule despite entrenched opposition from health insurers, who felt the rule's 2015 effective date offered too a short timeline to meet its requirements.