Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A) When pursuant
to section 4731.228 of the Revised Code a
health care entity provides to patients a notice of the termination of a
physician's employment, the notice shall be provided in one of the following
ways:
(1) A letter sent via regular mail to
the last address for the patient on record, with the date of mailing of the
letter documented;
(2) An
electronic message sent via a HIPAA compliant electronic medical record system
or HIPAA compliant electronic health record system that provides a means of
electronic communication between the health care entity and the patient and is
capable of sending the patient a notification that a message has been received
and is in the patient's portal.
(B) When pursuant to section
4731.228 of the Revised Code a
health care entity provides the physician whose employment has been terminated
for any reason with a list of patients treated and the patient contact
information, the physician shall provide the notice required by section
4731.228 of the Revised Code by
one of the ways authorized by paragraph (A)(1) or (A)(2) of this rule. In
addition, the physician may, but is not required to, publish a notice in a
newspaper of greatest circulation in the county in which the physician has
practiced and in a local newspaper that serves the immediate practice
area.
(C) Except as provided in
paragraph (D) of this rule, a physician who is an independent contractor, who provides physician services as an employee or an owner
at a medical practice that is not a health care entity, as that term is used in
section 4731.228 of the Revised
Code, or who has an ownership interest in a health care entity, as that term is defined in section
4731.228 of the Revised
Code, shall provide notice in compliance with the following requirements
when leaving, selling, or retiring from the health care entity
or other medical practice entity where the
physician has provided physician services:
(1) The notice shall be sent to all patients
who received physician services from the physician within the two-years
immediately preceding the physician's last date for seeing patients;
(2) The notice shall be provided as
authorized in paragraph (A)(1) or (A)(2) of this rule.
(a) The notice shall be sent no later than
thirty days prior to the last date the physician will see patients or upon
actual knowledge that the physician will be leaving, selling, or retiring from
the health care entity, whichever is earlier.
(b) A physician shall make a good faith
effort to comply with paragraph (C)(2)(a) of this rule. However, a physician
who because of acute illness or unforeseen emergency is unable to provide the
notice thirty days prior to the last date of seeing patients shall provide the
notice required by paragraph (C) of this rule no later than thirty days after
it is determined that the physician will not be returning to the health care
entity.
(3) The notice
shall include all of the following:
(a) A
statement that the physician will no longer be practicing medicine at the
health care entity;
(b) The date on
which the physician ceased or will cease to provide medicine services at the
health care entity;
(c) If the
physician will be practicing medicine in another location, contact information
for the physician subsequent to leaving the health care entity;
(d) Contact information for an alternative
physician or physicians employed by the health care entity or contact
information for a group practice that can provide care for the
patient;
(e) Contact information
that enables the patient to obtain information on the patient's medical
records.
(D)
The requirements of paragraphs (A), (B) and (C) of this rule do not apply to
the following:
(1) A physician who rendered
medical service to a person on an episodic basis or in an emergency department
or urgent care center, when it should not be reasonably expected that related
medical service will be rendered by the physician to the patient in the
future;
(2) A medical director or
other physician providing services in a similar capacity to a medical director
to patients through a hospice care program licensed pursuant to section
3712.04 of the Revised
Code;
(3) Medical residents,
interns, and fellows who work in hospitals, health systems, federally qualified
health centers, and federally qualified health center look-alikes as part of
their medical education and training;
(4) A physician providing services to a
patient through a community mental health agency certified by the director of
mental health under section
5119.611 of the Revised Code or
an alcohol and drug addiction program certified by the department of alcohol
and drug addiction services under section
3793.06 of the Revised
Code;
(5) A physician providing
services to a patient through a federally qualified health center or a
federally qualified health center look-alike.
(E) A physician's failure to provide notice
in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (B) or (C) of this rule, as
determined by the state medical board of Ohio, shall constitute "a departure
from, or failure to conform to, minimal standards of care of similar
practitioners under the same or similar circumstances, whether or not actual
injury to a patient is established," as that clause is used in division (B)(6)
of section 4731.22 of the Revised
Code.
(F) Nothing in this rule
shall limit the board's authority to investigate and take action under section
4731.22 of the Revised
Code.
