1. (a) In this section, "emergency care" means health care services provided in a hospital emergency facility, freestanding emergency medical care facility, or comparable emergency facility to evaluate and stabilize a medical condition of a recent onset and severity, including severe pain, that would lead a prudent layperson possessing an average knowledge of medicine and health to believe that the person's condition, sickness, or injury is of such a nature that failure to get immediate medical care could result in:

   1. (1) placing the person's health in serious jeopardy;
   2. (2) serious impairment to bodily functions;
   3. (3) serious dysfunction of a bodily organ or part;
   4. (4) serious disfigurement; or
   5. (5) in the case of a pregnant woman, serious jeopardy to the health of the fetus.

2. (b) If an insured cannot reasonably reach a preferred provider, an insurer shall provide reimbursement for the following emergency care services at the usual and customary rate or at an agreed rate and at the preferred level of benefits until the insured can reasonably be expected to transfer to a preferred provider:

   1. (1) a medical screening examination or other evaluation required by state or federal law to be provided in the emergency facility of a hospital that is necessary to determine whether a medical emergency condition exists;
   2. (2) necessary emergency care services, including the treatment and stabilization of an emergency medical condition;
   3. (3) services originating in a hospital emergency facility or freestanding emergency medical care facility following treatment or stabilization of an emergency medical condition; and
   4. (4) supplies related to a service described by this subsection.

3. (c) For emergency care subject to this section or a supply related to that care, an insurer shall make a payment required by this section directly to the out-of-network provider not later than, as applicable:

   1. (1) the 30th day after the date the insurer receives an electronic clean claim as defined by Section 1301.101 for those services that includes all information necessary for the insurer to pay the claim; or
   2. (2) the 45th day after the date the insurer receives a nonelectronic clean claim as defined by Section 1301.101 for those services that includes all information necessary for the insurer to pay the claim.

4. (d) For emergency care subject to this section or a supply related to that care, an out-of-network provider or a person asserting a claim as an agent or assignee of the provider may not bill an insured in, and the insured does not have financial responsibility for, an amount greater than an applicable copayment, coinsurance, and deductible under the insured's preferred provider benefit plan that:

   1. (1) is based on:

      1. (A) the amount initially determined payable by the insurer; or
      2. (B) if applicable, a modified amount as determined under the insurer's internal appeal process; and
   2. (2) is not based on any additional amount determined to be owed to the provider under Chapter 1467.
5. (e) This section may not be construed to require the imposition of a penalty under Section 1301.137.

Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1274, Sec. 3, eff. April 1, 2005.

Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1273 (H.B. 1357), Sec. 5, eff. March 1, 2010.

Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1342 (S.B. 1264), Sec. 1.08, eff. September 1, 2019.