Appendix B – External Review Request Form

Appendix B – External Review Request Form This EXTERNAL REVIEW REQUEST FORM must be filed with Mississippi Insurance Department within FOUR (4) MONTHS after receipt from your insurer of a denial of payment on a claim or request for coverage of a health care service or treatment. EXTERNAL REVIEW REQUEST FORM APPLICANT NAME: _________________________________________ Covered person/Patient  Provider Authorized Representative COVERED PERSON/PATIENT INFORMATION Covered Person Name: __________________________________ Patient Name:____________________________ Address:______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ Covered Person Phone #: Home (______)_______________________ Work (______)_______________________________________________ INSURANCE INFORMATION Insurer/HMO Name: ______________________________________________________________________________________ Covered Person Insurance ID#: ___________________________________________________________________________ Insurance Claim/Reference #: ___________________________________________________________________________ Insurer/HMO Mailing Address: ___________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Insurer Telephone #: (_____)______________________________________________________________ EMPLOYER INFORMATION Employer’s Name: ______________________________________________________________________________________ Employer’s Phone #: (_____)______________________________________________________________ Is the health coverage you have through your employer a self-funded plan? ________. If you are not certain please check with your employer. Most self-funded plans are not eligible for external review. However, some self-funded plans may voluntarily provide external review, but may have different procedures. You should check with your employer. HEALTH CARE PROVIDER INFORMATION Treating Physician/Health Care Provider: ________________________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Contact Person:_____________________________________ Phone:( ) ______________________ Medical Record #:_____________________________________ REASON FOR HEALTH CARRIER DENIAL (Please check one)  The health care service or treatment is not medically necessary.  The health care service or treatment is experimental or investigational. SUMMARY OF EXTERNAL REVIEW REQUEST (Enter a brief description of the claim, the request for health care service or treatment that was denied, and/or attach a copy of the denial from your health carrier)* _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________ *You may also describe in your own words the health care service or treatment in dispute and why you are appealing this denial using the attached pages below. EXPEDITED REVIEW If you need a fast decision, you may request that your external appeal be handled on an expedited basis. To complete this request, your treating health care provider must fill out the attached form stating that a delay would seriously jeopardize the life or health of the patient or would jeopardize the patient’s ability to regain maximum function. Is this a request for an expedited appeal? Yes________ No_________ SIGNATURE AND RELEASE OF MEDICAL RECORDS To appeal your health carrier’s denial, you must sign and date this external review request form and consent to the release of medical records. I, _______________________________, hereby request an external appeal. I attest that the information provided in this application is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge. I authorize by insurance company and my health care providers to release all relevant medical or treatment records to the independent review organization and the Mississippi Insurance Department. I understand that the independent review organization and the Mississippi Insurance Department will use this information to make a determination on my external appeal and that the information will be kept confidential and not be released to anyone else. This release is valid for one year. ____________________________________________ ______________ Signature of Covered Person (or legal representative)* Date *(Parent, Guardian, Conservator or Other – Please Specify) APPOINTMENT OF AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE (Fill out this section only if someone else will be representing you in this appeal.) You can represent yourself, or you may ask another person, including your treating health care provider, to act as your authorized representative. You may revoke this authorization at any time. I hereby authorize ___________________________________ to pursue my appeal on my behalf. ___________________________________________ ___________________ Signature of Covered Person (or legal representative)* Date *(Parent, Guardian, Conservator or Other—Please Specify) Address of Authorized Representative: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Phone #: Daytime(_______)_______________________ Evening(________)________________________ HEALTH CARE SERVICE OR TREATMENT DECISION IN DISPUTE DESCRIBE IN YOUR OWN WORDS THE DISAGREEMENT WITH YOUR HEALTH CARRIER. INDICATE CLEARLY THE SERVICE(S) BEING DENIED AND THE SPECIFIC DATE(S) BEING DENIED. EXPLAIN WHY YOU DISAGREE. ATTACH ADDITIONAL PAGES IF NECESSARY AND INCLUDE AVAILABLE PERTINENT MEDICAL RECORDS, ANY INFORMATION YOU RECEIVED FROM YOUR HEALTH CARRIER CONCERNING THE DENIAL, ANY PERTINENT PEER LITERATURE OR CLINICAL STUDIES, AND ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM YOUR PHYSICIAN/HEALTH CARE PROVIDER THAT YOU WANT THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW ORGANIZATION REVIEWER TO CONSIDER. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ WHAT TO SEND AND WHERE TO SEND IT PLEASE CHECK BELOW (NOTE: YOUR REQUEST WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR FULL REVIEW UNLESS ALL FOUR (4) ITEMS BELOW ARE INCLUDED*) 1.  YES, I have included this completed application form signed and dated. 2.  YES, I have included a photocopy of my insurance identification card or other evidence showing that I am insured by the health insurance company named in this application; 3.  YES**, I have enclosed the letter from my health carrier or utilization review company that states: (a) Their decision is final and that I have exhausted all internal review procedures; or (b) They have waived the requirement to exhaust all of the health carrier’s internal review procedures. **You may make a request for external review without exhausting all internal review procedures under certain circumstances. You should contact the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, Mississippi Insurance Department, Attn: Life and Health Actuarial Division, P.O. Box 79, Jackson, MS 39205, Phone: (601) 359-3569. 4.  YES, I have included a copy of my certificate of coverage or my insurance policy benefit booklet, which lists the benefits under my health benefit plan. *Call the Insurance Department at (601) 359-3569 if you need help in completing this application or if you do not have one or more of the above items and would like information on alternative ways to complete your request for external review. If you are requesting a standard external review, send all paperwork to: Mississippi Insurance Department, Attn: Life and Health Actuarial Division, P.O. Box 79, Jackson, MS 39205 If you are requesting an expedited external review, call the Insurance Department before sending your paperwork, and you will receive instructions on the quickest way to submit the application and supporting information. CERTIFICATION OF TREATING HEALTH CARE PROVIDER FOR EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF A PATIENT’S EXTERNAL REVIEW APPEAL NOTE TO THE TREATING HEALTH CARE PROVIDER Patients can request an external review when a health carrier has denied a health care service or course of treatment on the basis of a utilization review determination that the requested health care service or course of treatment does not meet the health carrier’s requirements for medical necessity, appropriateness, health care setting, level of care or effectiveness of the health care service or treatment you requested. The Mississippi Insurance Department oversees external appeals. The standard external review process can take up to 45 days from the date the patient’s request for external review is received by our department. Expedited external review is available only if the patient’s treating health care provider certifies that adherence to the time frame for the standard external review would seriously jeopardize the life or health of the covered person or would jeopardize the covered person’s ability to regain maximum function. An expedited external review must be completed at most within 72 hours. This form is for the purpose of providing the certification necessary to trigger expedited review. GENERAL INFORMATION Name of Treating Health Care Provider:____________________________________________________________ Mailing Address: ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone Number:(_____)________________________ ___ Fax Number:(_______)___________________________ Licensure and Area of Clinical Specialty:___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Name of Patient:______________________________________________________________________________ Patient’s Insurer Member ID#:___________________________________________________________________ CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that: I am a treating health care provider for ____________________________________________________ (hereafter referred to as “the patient”); that adherence to the time frame for conducting a standard external review of the patient’s appeal would, in my professional judgment, seriously jeopardize the life or health of the patient or would jeopardize the patient’s ability to regain maximum function; and that, for this reason, the patient’s appeal of the denial by the patient’s health carrier of the requested health care service or course of treatment should be processed on an expedited basis. ____________________________________________ Treating Health Care Provider’s Name: (Please Print) ____________________________________________ _______________________ Signature Date PHYSICIAN CERTIFICATION EXPERIMENTAL/INVESTIGATIONAL DENIALS (To Be Completed by Treating Physician) I hereby certify that I am the treating physician for __________________ (covered person’s name) and that I have requested the authorization for a drug, device, procedure or therapy denied for coverage due to the insurance company’s determination that the proposed therapy is experimental and/or investigational. I understand that in order for the covered person to obtain the right to an external review of this denial, as treating physician I must certify that the covered person’s medical condition meets certain requirements: In my medical opinion as the Insured’s treating physician, I hereby certify to the following: (Please check all that apply) (NOTE: Requirements #1 - #3 below must all apply for the covered person to qualify for an external review).  1) The covered person has a terminal medical condition, life threatening condition, or a seriously debilitating condition.  2) The covered person has a condition that qualifies under one or more of the following: [please indicate which description(s) apply]:  Standard health care services or treatments have not been effective in improving the covered person’s condition;  Standard health care services or treatments are not medically appropriate for the covered person; or  There is no available standard health care service or treatment covered by the health carrier that is more beneficial than the requested or recommended health care service or treatment.  3) The health care service or treatment I have recommended and which has been denied, in my medical opinion, is likely to be more beneficial to the covered person than any available standard health care services or treatments.  4) The health care service or treatment recommended would be significantly less effective if not promptly initiated. Explain:_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________  5) It is my medical opinion based on scientifically valid studies using accepted protocols that the health care service or treatment requested by the covered person and which has been denied is likely to be more beneficial to the covered person than any available standard health care services or treatments. Explain: _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Please provide a description of the recommended or requested health care service or treatment that is the subject of the denial. (Attach additional sheets as necessary) _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ ____________________________ Physician’s Signature Date