5109 - Unauthorized providers of health services.
§ 5109. Unauthorized providers of health services. (a) The superintendent, in consultation with the commissioner of health and the commissioner of education, shall by regulation, promulgate standards and procedures for investigating and suspending or removing the authorization for providers of health services to demand or request payment for health services as specified in paragraph one of subsection (a) of section five thousand one hundred two of this article upon findings reached after investigation pursuant to this section. Such regulations shall ensure the same or greater due process provisions, including notice and opportunity to be heard, as those afforded physicians investigated under article two of the workers' compensation law and shall include provision for notice to all providers of health services of the provisions of this section and regulations promulgated thereunder at least ninety days in advance of the effective date of such regulations. (b) The commissioner of health and the commissioner of education shall provide a list of the names of all providers of health services who the commissioner of health and the commissioner of education shall deem, after reasonable investigation, not authorized to demand or request any payment for medical services in connection with any claim under this article because such provider of health services: (1) has been guilty of professional or other misconduct or incompetency in connection with medical services rendered under this article; or (2) has exceeded the limits of his or her professional competence in rendering medical care under this article or has knowingly made a false statement or representation as to a material fact in any medical report made in connection with any claim under this article; or (3) solicited, or has employed another to solicit for himself or herself or for another, professional treatment, examination or care of an injured person in connection with any claim under this article; or (4) has refused to appear before, or to answer upon request of, the commissioner of health, the superintendent, or any duly authorized officer of the state, any legal question, or to produce any relevant information concerning his or her conduct in connection with rendering medical services under this article; or (5) has engaged in patterns of billing for services which were not provided. (c) Providers of health services shall refrain from subsequently treating for remuneration, as a private patient, any person seeking medical treatment under this article if such provider pursuant to this section has been prohibited from demanding or requesting any payment for medical services under this article. An injured claimant so treated or examined may raise this as a defense in any action by such provider for payment for treatment rendered at any time after such provider has been prohibited from demanding or requesting payment for medical services in connection with any claim under this article. (d) The commissioner of health and the commissioner of education shall maintain and regularly update a database containing a list of providers of health services prohibited by this section from demanding or requesting any payment for health services connected to a claim under this article and shall make such information available to the public by means of a website and by a toll free number. (e) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting in any respect the powers and duties of the commissioner of health, commissioner of education or the superintendent to investigate instances of misconduct by a health care provider and, after a hearing and upon written notice to the provider, to temporarily prohibit a provider ofhealth services under such investigation from demanding or requesting any payment for medical services under this article for up to ninety days from the date of such notice.