ERISA or PPO? Managed Care Slavery or ERISA Superhero

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One of the most misguided and financial suicidal concept in healthcare reimbursement is that health care providers are historically and fundamentally as well as legally taught and convinced that any and all denials or reductions of your claims with or through managed care entity are a PPO discount, a consensual compromise or defeat, instead of ERISA benefits denial, in whole or in part, based on relevant plan benefits provisions governed under ERISA, the federal as a public policy, even though every managed care contract, managed care network medical policy, managed care provider manuals have specifically and unambiguously disclaimed and instructed that provider contracts are for provider voluntary reduction from the total amount that each members benefit plan has already approved as benefits reimbursement, specifically based on each individual patient/member benefits plan provisions, Summary Plan Description (SPD), governed by federal law ERISA, for any ERISA regulated employer sponsored health benefits plan in private sector.

 ERISA is a federal law, governing ERISA plans, health insurance/benefits through employment in private sectors.  The simplest way to understand and identify an ERISA plan is if your patient obtained health insurance from employment in private sector, from both self-insured and fully insured (through purchase of insurance) benefits plans.

 SPD (Summary Plan Description) is ERISA version of insurance policy, SPD controls insurance/benefits coverage, limitation, and conditions for reimbursement. Each individual patient eligibility, qualification, coverage, limitation, and circumstances for disqualification are specifically determined by the terms and conditions of each individual plan SPD.  Any managed care contract, PPO, POS, EPO, P4P and HMO, may not be intended, or shall not be construed, to supercede, alter or limit the rights or remedies otherwise available to any Person under § 502(a) of ERISA or to supercede in any respect the claims procedures of § 503 of ERISA.

 Managed care contract between healthcare providers and  manage care entities or organizations, or even directly with ERISA plans or insurers, are legally a third-party business contract, independently and separately from an ERISA plan. A managed care contract is primarily used to solicit or offer provider discount in exchange of wholesale referral (network access) and prompt reimbursement.

 Any claim denials or delays for plan coverage, limitation, medical necessity, UCR, network provider access, coordination of benefits, pre-existing condition, eligibility determination, anything about money and rights for any participant and beneficiary, except for pure PPO discount, are governed by ERISA, as a public policy, and determined based on each individual benefits plan provisions, however if all of the above are not in dispute, or moot, but there is a pure PPO or managed care discount, that would be a provider PPO dispute, determined by each individual manage care contract, governed by specific individual state laws where contract was entered and choice of law was agreed by parties of such contract.

 Therefore, any PPO  discount or dispute is not triggered unless or until ERISA benefits questions or disputes are resolved or moot.

 As a national insanity or stupidity in US health care crisis, managed care contracting has been used to hijack, interfere, substitute, replace and discount or deceit the compliance and enforcement of ERISA, a federal law as public policy.

Editor’s Note: ERISA pre-empts all PPO contracts much to the displeasure of medical care providers. See entire article here – http://erisaclaim.com/ERISA_or_PPO.htm