La. Admin. Code tit. 37 § III-711

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section III-711 - Payment of Surcharges: Insurers and Self-Insurance Trusts

A. Applicable surcharges for enrollment and qualification with the fund shall be collected on behalf of the board by commercial professional health care liability insurance companies and approved self-insurance trusts from insured health care providers electing to enroll and qualify with the fund. Such surcharges shall be collected by such insurers and trusts at the same time and on the same basis as such insurers' and trust's collection of premiums or contributions from such insureds. Surcharges collected by such insurers and trusts on behalf of the board shall be due and payable and remitted to the board by such insurers and trusts within 30 days from the date on which such surcharges are collected from any insured health care provider.

B. Annual surcharges for initial PCF coverage for insured health care providers whose surcharges are collected by insurers and trusts for enrollment and qualification with the fund shall be due and payable to the collecting insurers and trusts on or before the date of initial PCF coverage. Annual surcharges for renewal coverage due the board by insured health care providers whose surcharges are collected by insurers and trusts for enrollment and qualification with the fund shall be due and payable to the collecting insurers and trusts on or before 30 days following the expiration of the prior enrollment period. Remittance of surcharges to the board by the insurers and trusts shall be made in such form and accompanied by records in such forms or on such forms as may be prescribed by the executive director so as to provide for proper accounting of remitted surcharges and the identity and class of health care providers on whose behalf such surcharges are remitted. Such insurers and funds remitting surcharges to the board shall certify to the board, at the time of remitting such surcharge to the board, the date that the surcharges were collected by them from the health care providers. The payment of surcharges by an approved self-insurance trust that does not collect premiums or contributions from insureds will be governed by §713 hereof.

C. Failure of the commercial professional health care liability insurers, agents of the insurer, risk manager, or surplus line agent, and approved self-insurance trust funds to remit payment within 30 days of collecting such annual surcharge may subject the commercial professional liability insurers, commercial insurance underwriters, and approved self-insurance trust funds to a penalty, the amount of which will be set by the board on an annual basis, not to exceed 12 percent of the annual surcharge, and all reasonable attorney fees. Upon the failure of the commercial professional health care liability insurers, commercial insurance underwriters and approved self-insurance trust funds to remit as provided in §711, the board may institute legal proceedings to collect the surcharge, together with penalties, legal interest, and all reasonable attorney fees.

D. If the instrument used to pay the surcharge is returned to the board by the payor institution and/or payment hereon is denied for any reason, the health care provider shall be notified thereof by the board. If the surcharge and any insufficient funds (NSF) charge incurred by the board is not paid in full by certified check, cashier's check, money order, or cash equivalent funds received by the board within 10 calendar days of the provider's receipt of said notice, then the provider's coverage with the fund shall be terminated as of the end of the previous enrollment period.

E. It is the purpose of §711 that insurers and approved self-insurance trust funds remit surcharges collected from their insured providers to the board timely. The timeliness of surcharge remittances to the board by insurers and approved self-insurance trust funds shall not affect the effective date of fund coverage. However, the failure of insured health care providers to timely remit applicable surcharges to insurers and approved self-insurance trust funds for renewal may result in lapses of coverage with the fund.

La. Admin. Code tit. 37, § III-711

Promulgated by the Office of the Governor, Patients' Compensation Fund Oversight Board, LR 18:176 (February 1992), amended LR 20:432 (April 1994), LR 23:69 (January 1997), LR 29:346 (March 2003), amended by the Division of Administration, Patient's Compensation Fund Oversight Board, LR 36:2558 (November 2010), amended by the Office of the Governor, Division of Administration, Patients' Compensation Fund Oversight Board, LR 38:2539 (October 2012).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 40:1299.44(D)(3).