S-2065.2          _______________________________________________

                            SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5854

                  _______________________________________________

State of Washington              54th Legislature             1995 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Health & Long‑Term Care (originally sponsored by Senators Haugen, Spanel, Wood, Prentice, Winsley, Rasmussen, Hale, Kohl, McCaslin, Fairley, Long, Loveland, Franklin, Roach, Moyer, Quigley, McAuliffe, Drew and Wojahn)

Read first time 03/01/95.

Requiring that health plans must allow women a choice of primary care providers.

     AN ACT Relating to women's health care; adding a new section to chapter 48.01 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that:

     (1) The specialty of obstetrics/gynecology is devoted to the preventive health care of women throughout their lifetime;

     (2) Significant numbers of women view their obstetrician/gynecologist as their primary or only physician.  For many women an obstetrician/gynecologist is often the only physician they see regularly during their reproductive years;

     (3) A general medical examination was the second most frequently cited purpose for patient visits to obstetricians/gynecologists in 1989 and 1990, accounting for seven million visits each year, according to data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics;

     (4) Women are opposed to restrictions in accessing obstetricians/gynecologists;

     (5) Obstetricians/gynecologists refer their patients less frequently than other primary care physicians, avoiding costly and time-consuming referrals to specialists; and

     (6) More than two-thirds of all visits to obstetricians/gynecologists were made by established patients of the physician returning for care of their condition according to data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics.  Only four and seven-tenths percent of patient visits resulted from referrals from another physician.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 48.01 RCW to read as follows:

     Health care services provided under a plan as defined in RCW 43.72.010, by a disability insurer regulated under chapter 48.20 or 48.21 RCW, by a health care service contractor as defined in RCW 48.44.010, by a health maintenance organization as defined in RCW 48.46.020, or by a provider network must include identification of obstetricians and gynecologists who may be chosen as primary care providers by enrollees.  "Primary care provider" as used in this section means that health care provider a person first consults and may include a provider who refers a patient to another provider.  Obstetricians and gynecologists under this section must be graduated from a school approved and accredited by the medical care quality assurance commission under chapter 18.71 RCW or an osteopathic medicine and surgery school approved by the board of osteopathic medicine under chapter 18.57 RCW.

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