Bill > HB1894

This bill, known as the "Patients First Act," aims to prevent discrimination against healthcare providers by health insurance plans in Missouri. It directs the Department of Commerce and Insurance to enforce federal nondiscrimination protections, ensuring that health insurance issuers cannot discriminate against providers based on their license or certification when it comes to participation in a plan or coverage. Specifically, health benefit plans must reimburse all healthcare providers at the same rate for the same service, provided that service is within the provider's scope of practice as defined by state law, though plans can still set different reimbursement rates based on quality or performance measures, and are not required to accept every willing provider into their network. However, this provision does not apply to physicians licensed under chapter 334. The Department of Commerce and Insurance is authorized to create necessary rules and regulations to implement this act, which will be subject to standard administrative procedures for rule-making.