§ 23-85-133 - Coverage of outpatient services required -- Exception -- Definitions. - Arkansas Statutes

23-85-133. Coverage of outpatient services required -- Exception -- Definitions.

(a) (1) No policy or contract of accident and health insurance, including contracts issued by hospital and medical service corporations, that provides coverage for any of the following services when delivered on an inpatient basis shall be sold, delivered, or issued for delivery or offered for sale in this state unless the identical coverage for the following services is provided when delivered on an outpatient basis:

(A) Laboratory and pathological tests;

(B) X rays;

(C) Chemotherapy;

(D) Radiation treatment; and

(E) Renal dialysis.

(2) However, the coverage required by subsection (a) of this section shall not be required when any policyholder or contract holder rejects coverage in writing.

(b) As used in this section:

(1) "Chemotherapy" means the administration, other than orally, of antineoplastic agents that are an integral part of cancer therapy;

(2) "Laboratory and pathological tests" means those services, including machine tests, ordered by the attending physician when necessary to and rendered in conjunction with the medical or surgical diagnosis or treatment of an illness or injury;

(3) "Radiation treatment" means treatment, when ordered by the attending physician, of cancer by X ray, radium, or radioisotopes;

(4) "Renal dialysis" means treatment, when ordered by the attending physician, of chronic renal disease by a process by which waste products are removed from the body by diffusion from one (1) fluid compartment to another across a semipermeable membrane and shall include hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis; and

(5) "X rays" means diagnostic X-ray examinations, including fluoroscopic examinations, ordered by the attending physician when such X-ray examinations are necessary to and rendered in conjunction with the medical or surgical diagnosis or treatment of an illness or injury.