2024 Transparency Notice

A) Out-of-network liability and balance billing

The Ambetter network is the group of providers, including but not limited to physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, other facilities and health care professionals, we contract with to provide care for you. If a provider is in our network, services are covered by your health insurance plan. Network providers may not bill you for covered expenses beyond your applicable cost sharing amounts (e.g., copayment, coinsurance, and/or a deductible).

If you receive services from a provider that is out-of-network, you may have to pay more for services you receive. Non-network providers may be permitted to bill you for the difference between what your plan agreed to pay and the full amount charged for a service. This is known as balance billing. This amount is likely more than in-network costs for the same service and might not count toward your annual maximum out-of-pocket limit. However, you will not be balance billed when balance billing protections apply to covered services.

When receiving care at an Ambetter network facility, it is possible that some hospital-based providers may not be network providers.. If you provide notice and consent to waive balance billing protections, you may be responsible for payment of all or part of the balance bill. Any amount you are obligated to pay to the non-network provider in excess of the eligible expense will not apply to your deductible amount or maximum out-of-pocket amount.

As a member of Ambetter, non-network providers should not bill you for covered services for any amount greater than your applicable in-network cost sharing responsibilities when:

Emergency services provided to a member, as well as services provided after the member is stabilized unless the member gave notice and consent to be balance billed for the post-stabilization services;
Non-emergency health care services provided to a member at a network hospital or at a network ambulatory surgical center unless if member gave notice and consent pursuant to the federal No Surprises Act to be balance billed by the non-network provider; or
Air ambulance services provided to a member by a non-network provider.

You will only be responsible for paying your member cost share for these services, which is calculated as if you had received the services from a network provider and is based on the recognized amount as defined in applicable law. If you are balance billed for any of the above services, contact Member Services immediately at the number listed on the back of your member identification card.

B) Enrollee Claim Submission

Providers will typically submit claims on your behalf, but sometimes you may need to submit claims yourself for covered services. This may happen if your provider is not contracted with us.

If you have paid for services we agreed to cover, you can request reimbursement for the amount you paid. We can adjust your deductible, copayment or cost sharing to reimburse you.

We must receive written proof of loss within 90 days of the loss or as soon as is reasonably possible. Proof of loss furnished more than one year late will not be accepted, unless you or your covered dependent member had no legal capacity to submit such proof during that year.

To request reimbursement for a covered service, you need a copy of the detailed claim from your provider. You will also need to submit a copy of the member reimbursement claim form (PDF) posted at ambetterofalabama.com under “For Members,” “Forms and Materials,” “Forms”. Send all the documentation to us at the following address:

Ambetter of Alabama
Attn: Claims Department
P.O. Box 5010
Farmington, MO 63640-5010

Benefits will be paid within 30 days for clean claims filed electronically or on paper. "Clean claims" means a claim submitted by you or a provider that has no defect, impropriety, or particular circumstance requiring special treatment preventing payment. If we have not received the information we need to process a claim, we will ask for the additional information necessary to complete the claim. You will receive a copy of that request for additional information. In those cases, we cannot complete the processing of the claim until the additional information requested has been received. We will make our request for additional information within 20 days of our initial receipt of the claim and will complete our processing of the claim within 30 days after our receipt of all requested information.

C) Grace Periods and Claims Pending

If you do not pay your premium by its due date, you will enter a grace period. This is the extra time we give you to pay. During your grace period, you will still have coverage. However, if you do not pay before a grace period ends, you run the risk of losing your coverage. During a grace period, we may hold — or pend — your claim payment. If your coverage is terminated for not paying your premium, you will not be eligible to enroll with us again until Open Enrollment or a Special Enrollment period.

If you receive a subsidy payment

After the first premium is paid, a grace period of three months from the premium due date is given for the payment of premium. Coverage will remain in force during the grace period. If full payment of premium is not received within the grace period, coverage will be terminated as of the last day of the first month during the grace period, if advanced premium tax credits are received.

We will continue to pay all appropriate claims for covered services rendered to the member during the first month of the grace period and may pend claims for covered services rendered to the member in the second and third month of the grace period.

If you do not receive a subsidy payment

Premium payments are due in advance, on a calendar month basis. Monthly payments are due on or before the first day of each month for coverage effective during such month. There is a 30-day grace period. This provision means that if any required premium is not paid on or before the date it is due, it may be paid during the grace period. During the grace period, the contract will stay in force, however, claims may pend for covered services rendered to the member during the grace period. We will notify HHS, as necessary, of the non-payment of premiums, the member, as well as providers of the possibility of denied claims when the member is in the grace period.

D) Retroactive Denials

"Retroactive denial of a previously paid claim" or "retroactive denial of payment" means any attempt by a carrier retroactively to collect payments already made to a provider with respect to a claim by reducing other payments currently owed to the provider, by withholding or setting off against future payments, or in any other manner reducing or affecting the future claim payments to the provider.

There are instances where claims may be denied retroactively if you: receive services from a provider or facility that is not in our network; terminate coverage with Ambetter; provide late notification of other coverage due to new coverage; or have a change in circumstance, such as divorce or marriage. This causes Ambetter to request recoupment of payment from the provider.

You can avoid retroactive denials by paying your premiums on time and in full, and making sure you talk to your provider about whether the service performed is a covered service. You can also avoid retroactive denials by obtaining your medical services from a network provider.

If you believe the denial is in error, you are encouraged to contact Member Services by calling the number on the back of your member identification card.

E) Recoupment of Overpayments

Members may call in to request a refund of overpaid premium. Refunds are processed by two methods, electronically or by a manual check. The type of refund that is issued is dependent on the method of payment. Payments made with a debit/credit card via e-Cashiering, interactive voice response (IVR) system, auto pay, or member portal, as well as credit card payments sent to our lockbox vendor, will be refunded via e-Cashiering. Payments made via e-Check will also be refunded electronically. Payments made by check to our lockbox vendor and payments that were processed in-house at our Little Rock location must be refunded manually via paper check.

F) Medical Necessity and Prior Authorization

Services are only covered if they are medically necessary. Medically necessary services are those that:

Are the most appropriate level of service for the member considering potential benefits and harm
Are known to be effective, based on scientific evidence, professional standards and expert opinion, in improving health outcomes

Prior Authorization Required

Some medical and behavioral covered services require prior authorization. Network providers must obtain authorization from us prior to providing a service or supply to a member. However, there are some network eligible expenses for which you must obtain the prior authorization.

For services or supplies that require prior authorization, as shown on your Schedule of Benefits, you must obtain authorization from us before you or your dependent member:

Receives a service or supply from a non-network provider;
Is admitted into a network facility by a non-network provider; or
Receives a service or supply from a network provider to which you or your dependent member were referred by a non-network provider.

Prior authorization (medical and behavioral health) requests must be received by telephone, e-fax, or provider web portal as follows:

At least 5 days prior to an elective admission as an inpatient in a hospital, extended care or rehabilitation facility or hospice facility, or residential treatment facility.
At least 30 days prior to the initial evaluation for organ transplant services.
At least 30 days prior to receiving clinical trial services.
Within 24 hours of any inpatient admission for inpatient mental health or substance use disorder treatment.
At least 5 days prior to the start of home health care.

After prior authorization has been requested and all required or applicable documentation has been submitted, we will notify you and your provider if the request has been approved as follows:

For urgent concurrent reviews within 24 hours of receipt of the request.
For urgent pre-service reviews, within two business days from date of receipt of request.
For non-urgent pre-service reviews within two business days of the request.
For post-service or retrospective reviews, within 30 calendar days of receipt of the request.

Failure to Obtain Prior Authorization

Failure to comply with the prior authorization requirements will result in benefits being reduced.

Network providers cannot bill you for services for which they fail to obtain prior authorization as required.

In cases of emergency, benefits will not be reduced for failure to comply with prior authorization requirements. However, you must contact us as soon as reasonably possible after the emergency occurs.

G) Drug Exceptions Timeframes and Enrollee Responsibilities

Prescription Drug Exception Process

Sometimes members need access to drugs that are not listed on the formulary. Members or provider can submit a drug exception request to us by contacting Member Services, or by sending a written request to the following address:

Ambetter of Alabama
P.O. Box 10341
Van Nuys, CA 91410

Standard exception request

A member, a member’s authorized representative or a member’s prescribing physician may request a standard review of a decision that a drug is not covered by the plan. The request can be made in writing or via telephone. Within 72 hours of the request being received, we will provide the member, the member’s authorized representative or the member’s prescribing physician with our coverage determination. Should the standard exception request be granted, we will provide coverage of the non-formulary drug for the duration of the prescription, including refills.

Expedited exception request

A member, a member’s authorized representative or a member’s prescribing physician may request an expedited review based on exigent circumstances. Exigent circumstances exist when a member is suffering from a health condition that may seriously jeopardize the member's life, health, or ability to regain maximum function or when a member is undergoing a current course of treatment using a non-formulary drug. Within 24 hours of the request being received, we will provide the member, the member’s authorized representative or the member’s prescribing physician with our coverage determination. Should the expedited exception request be granted, we will provide coverage of the non-formulary drug for the duration of the exigency.

External exception request review

If we deny a request for a standard exception or for an expedited exception, the member, the member’s authorized representative or the member’s prescribing physician may request that the original exception request and subsequent denial of such request be reviewed by an independent review organization. We will make our determination on the external exception request and notify the member, the member’s authorized representative or the member’s prescribing physician of our coverage determination no later than 72 hours following receipt of the request, if the original request was a standard exception, and no later than 24 hours following its receipt of the request, if the original request was an expedited exception.

If we grant an external exception review of a standard exception request, we will provide coverage of the non-formulary drug for the duration of the prescription. If we grant an external exception review of an expedited exception request, we will provide coverage of the non-formulary drug for the duration of the exigency.

H) Information on Explanation of Benefits

An Explanation of Benefits (EOB) is a statement that we send to members to explain what medical treatments and/or services we paid for on behalf of a member. This shows the amount billed by the provider, the issuer’s payment, and the member’s financial responsibility pursuant to the terms of the policy. We will send an EOB to you after we receive and adjudicate a claim on your behalf from a provider. If you need assistance interpreting your Explanation of Benefits, please contact Member Services.

I) Coordination of Benefits

We coordinate benefits with other payers when a member is covered by two or more group health benefit plans. Coordination of Benefits (COB) is the industry standard practice used to share the cost of care between two or more carriers when a member is covered by more than one health benefit plan.

It is a contractual provision of a majority of health benefit contracts. Ambetter of Alabama complies with Federal and state regulations for COB and follows COB guidelines published by National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

Under COB, the benefits of one plan are determined to be primary and are first applied to the cost of care. After considering what has been covered by the primary plan, the secondary plan may cover the cost of care up to the fully allowed expense according to the plan’s payment guidelines. Ambetter of Alabama Health Claims COB and Recovery Unit procedures are designed to avoid payment in excess of allowable expense while also making sure claims are processed both accurately and timely.