HB1288

House Bill 1288 amends the Arkansas Health Care Consumer Act regarding the credentialing process for physicians. The bill requires healthcare insurers to treat an applicant physician as a participating provider beginning on the date they submitted a substantially completed credentialing application, once that physician has been successfully credentialed. It establishes that this retroactive status applies to payments for services rendered. The bill specifies that the date of submission is defined by when the insurer receives the credentialing information from the Centralized Credentials Verification Service of the Arkansas State Medical Board. Notably, the bill explicitly excludes the Arkansas Medicaid Program from these requirements. The primary purpose is to ensure physicians are compensated as participating providers for services provided during the often lengthy credentialing waiting period.