Study: Half of California's Primary Care Physicians Unaware of Breast Density Notification Law

A study published in the Journal of the ACR found that about 50% of primary care physicians were unaware of the California breast density notification law. The survey of internal medicine, family medicine, and ob/gyns was conducted in February 2014 about 10 months after the breast density notification law took effect. The study suggests that for this process to be effective that other educational tools should be explored or utilizing other strategies to assist patients with breast density issues.

The bill in California was adopted after an earlier version was vetoed by the Governor. Breast density notification laws have since been proposed and adopted in a growing number of states since then and California was a target for advocacy groups who favored disclosure of breast density to patients undergoing screening mammography. The CRS worked hard to develop a final bill that was workable for the radiology community.

This week Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones issued regulations to address a growing number of complaints from consumers over the adequacy of insurance company provider networks and the accuracy of provider listings. Commissioner Jones stated that he has "received complaints from consumers across the state about long waiting times, about inaccurate directories of providers, about being charged out-of-network costs when there isn't an in-network provider."

The proposed regulations were issued in emergency form but must be reviewed by the Office of Administrative Law before they can take effect. The Insurance Commissioner only has jurisdiction over PPOs and indemnity health insurers while health plans and HMOs are regulated by the Department of Managed Health Care. DMHC has recently addressed similar concerns with Anthem on their network adequacy.

The emergency regulations would require insurers to do the following;

• Compliance with new standards for appointment wait times;
• Offer an adequate number of physicians, clinics and hospitals to patients who live in certain areas;
• Provide an accurate list of in-network providers;
• Provide out-of-network care options for the same price as in-network care when the number of in-network providers is insufficient; and
• Report to DOI information about their networks and any changes.