Admission
| The period from entry (admission) into a hospital or other covered facility until discharge. In counting days of inpatient care, the date of entry and the date of discharge are counted as the same day. |
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Assignment | An authorization by you (the enrollee or covered family member) that is approved by us (the Carrier), for us to issue payment of benefits directly to the provider.
- We reserve the right to pay you directly for all covered services. Benefits payable under the contract are not assignable by you to any person without express written approval from us, and in the absence of such approval, any assignment shall be void.
- Your specific written consent for a designated authorized representative to act on your behalf to request reconsideration of a claim decision (or, for an urgent care claim, for a representative to act on your behalf without designation) does not constitute an Assignment.
- OPM’s contract with us, based on federal statute and regulation, gives you a right to seek judicial review of OPM's final action on the denial of a health benefits claim but it does not provide you with authority to assign your right to file such a lawsuit to any other person or entity. Any agreement you enter into with another person or entity (such as a provider, or other individual or entity) authorizing that person or entity to bring a lawsuit against OPM, whether or not acting on your behalf, does not constitute an Assignment, is not a valid authorization under this contract, and is void.
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Calendar year
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January 1 through December 31 of the same year. For new enrollees, the calendar year begins on the effective date of their enrollment and ends on December 31 of the same year.
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Clinical trials cost categories | An approved clinical trial includes a phase I, phase II, phase III, or phase IV clinical trial that is conducted in relation to the prevention, detection, or treatment of cancer or other life-threatening disease or condition, and is either Federally-funded; conducted under an investigational new drug application reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); or is a drug trial that is exempt from the requirement of an investigational new drug application.
If you are a participant in a clinical trial, this health Plan will provide related care as follows, if it is not provided by the clinical trial:
- Routine care costs – costs for routine services such as doctor visits, lab tests, X-rays and scans, and hospitalizations related to treating the patient’s condition, whether the patient is in a clinical trial or is receiving standard therapy.
- Extra care costs – costs related to taking part in a clinical trial such as additional tests that a patient may need as part of the trial, but not as part of the patient’s routine care.
- Research costs - costs related to conducting the clinical trial such as research physician and nurse time, analysis of results, and clinical tests performed only for research purposes are generally covered by the clinical trials. This Plan does not cover these costs.
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Coinsurance | See Section 4 page (Applies to printed brochure only). |
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Congenital anomalies
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A condition existing at or from birth that is a significant deviation from the common form or anomaly norm. For purposes of this Plan, congenital includes protruding ear deformities, cleft lips, cleft palates, webbed fingers or toes, and other conditions that we may determine to be congenital anomalies. In no event will the term congenital anomaly include conditions relating to teeth or intra-oral structures supporting the teeth.
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Copayment | See Section 4 page (Applies to printed brochure only). |
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Cosmetic surgery
| Any operative procedure or any portion of a procedure performed primarily to improve physical appearance and/or treat a mental condition through a change in bodily form. |
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Cost-sharing | See Section 4 page (Applies to printed brochure only). |
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Covered services
| Services we provide benefits for, as described in this brochure. |
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Custodial care
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Treatment or services, regardless of who recommends them or where they are provided, that could be provided safely and reasonably by a person who is not medically skilled, or are designed mainly to help the patient with daily living activities. These activities include but are not limited to:
1) personal care such as help in: walking; getting in or out of bed; bathing; eating by spoon, tube or gastrostomy; exercising; dressing;
2) homemaking, such as preparing meals or special diets;
3) moving the patient;
4) acting as a companion or sitter;
5) supervising medication that can usually be self administered; or
6) treatment services such as recording temperature, pulse, and respirations, or administration and monitoring of feeding systems. Custodial care that lasts 90 days or more is sometimes known as Long Term Care. |
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Deductible | See Section 4 page (Applies to printed brochure only). |
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Developmental delay | Impairment in the performance of tasks or the meeting of milestones that a child should achieve by a specific chronological age. |
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Doula | A doula is trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and shortly after childbirth to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible. |
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Effective date
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The date the benefits described in this brochure are effective:
- January 1 for continuing enrollments and for all annuitant enrollments;
- the first day of the first full pay period of the new year for enrollees who change plans or options or elect FEHB coverage during Open Season for the first time; or
- for new enrollees during the calendar year, but not during Open Season, the effective date of enrollment as determined by your employing office or retirement system.
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Expense
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The cost incurred for a covered service or supply ordered or prescribed by a covered provider. You can incur an expense on the date the service or supply is received. Expense does not include any charge:
- for a service or supply that is not medically necessary; or
- that is in excess of the Plan’s allowance for the service or supply.
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Experimental or investigational services
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A drug, device, or biological product is experimental or investigational if it cannot lawfully be marketed without approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and approval for marketing has not been given at the time it is furnished. Approval means all forms of acceptance by the FDA.
A medical treatment or procedure, or a drug, device, or biological product is experimental or investigational if 1) reliable evidence shows that it is the subject of ongoing phase I, II, or III clinical trials or under study to determine its maximum tolerated dose, its toxicity, its safety, its efficacy, or its efficacy as compared with the standard means of treatment or diagnosis; or 2) reliable evidence shows that the consensus of opinion among experts is that further studies or clinical trials are necessary to determine its maximum tolerated dose, its toxicity, its safety, its efficacy, or its efficacy as compared with the standard means of treatment or diagnosis.
Reliable evidence shall mean only published reports and articles in the authoritative medical and scientific literature; the written protocol or protocols used by the treating facility or the protocol(s) of another facility studying substantially the same drug, device, or medical treatment or procedure; or the written informed consent used by the treating facility or by another facility studying substantially the same drug, device, or medical treatment or procedure.
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Gender identity disorder | A disorder characterized by the following criteria:
- A strong and persistent cross gender identification (not merely a desire for any perceived cultural advantages of being the other sex).
- Persistent discomfort with his or her sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex.
- The disturbance is not concurrent with a physical intersex condition.
- The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
- The transsexual identity has been present persistently for at least two years.
- The disorder is not a symptom of another mental disorder or chromosomal abnormality.
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Group Health Coverage
| Healthcare coverage that you are eligible for because of employment, membership in, or connection with, a particular organization or group that provides payment for hospital, medical or other healthcare service or supplies, or that pays a specific amount for each day or period hospitalization. |
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Habilitative Services | Healthcare services that help you keep, learn, or improve skills and functioning for daily living. Examples include therapy for a child who is not walking or talking at the expected age. These services may include physical and occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and other services for people with disabilities in a variety of inpatient and/or outpatient settings. |
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Healthcare Professional | A physician or other healthcare professional licensed, accredited, or certified to perform specified health services consistent with state law. |
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Home Healthcare Agency | A public or private agency or organization appropriately licensed, qualified and operated under the law of the state in which it is located. |
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Home healthcare plan | A written plan, approved in writing by a physician, for continued care and treatment for a Plan member who is under the care of a physician and who would need a continued stay in a hospital or skilled nursing facility with the home healthcare. |
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Hospice care program
| A coordinated program of home and inpatient pain control and supportive care for the terminally ill patient and the patient’s family. Care is provided by a medically supervised team under the direction of an independent hospice administration that we approve. |
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Hospital stay | An inpatient admission as a registered bed patient using and being charged for room and board in a hospital for 24 hours or more. A person is not an inpatient on any day on which he or she is on leave or otherwise gone from the hospital, whether or not a room and board charge is made. |
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Infertility | A disease defined by the failure to achieve a successful pregnancy after 12 months or more of unprotected intercourse or therapeutic donor insemination (after 6 months for individuals over age 35 years). Infertilty may also be established through an evaluation and treatment based on medical history and diagnostic testing. |
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Intensive outpatient program (IOP) | A program that offers time-limited services that are coordinated, structured, and intensively therapeutic. Such programs are designed to treat a variety of individuals with moderate to marked impairment in at least one area of daily life resulting from psychiatric or addictive disorders. At a minimum, IOPs offer three to four hours of active treatment per day at least two to three days per week. |
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Medical food | The term medical food, as defined in section 5(b) of the Orphan Drug Act (21 U.S.C. 360ee (b) (3)) is a food which is formulated to be consumed or administered enterally under the supervision of a physician and which is intended for the specific dietary management of a disease or condition for which distinctive nutritional requirements, based on recognized scientific principles, are established by medical evaluation.
In general, to be considered a medical food, a product must, at a minimum, meet the following criteria: the product must be a food for oral or tube feeding; the product must be labeled for the dietary management of a specific medical disorder, disease, or condition for which there are distinctive nutritional requirements; and the product must be intended to be used under medical supervision. Modified grocery item foods, even if categorized as medical foods by the manufacturer, are not considered a covered benefit. |
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Medically necessary/Medical necessity | Healthcare services provided for the purpose of preventing, evaluating, diagnosing or treating an Illness, Injury, mental illness, substance use disorder, condition, disease or its symptoms, that are all of the following as determined by us or our designee, within our sole discretion:
- In accordance with Generally Accepted Standards of Medical Practice; and
- Clinically appropriate, in terms of type, frequency, extent, site and duration, and considered effective for Your Illness, Injury, mental illness, substance use disorder, disease or its symptoms; and
- Not mainly for Your convenience or that of Your doctor or other healthcare provider; and
- Not more costly than an alternative drug, service(s) or supply that is at least as likely to produce equivalent therapeutic or diagnostic results as to the diagnosis or treatment of your Illness, Injury, disease or symptoms.
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Mental conditions/substance abuse
| Conditions and diseases listed in the most recent edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) as psychoses, neurotic disorders, or personality disorders; other nonpsychotic mental disorders listed in the ICD to be determined by the Plan; or disorders listed in the ICD requiring treatment for abuse of or dependence upon substances such as alcohol, narcotics, or hallucinogens. |
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Mental health disorder | A disorder that is a clinically significant psychological syndrome associated with distress, dysfunction or Illness. The syndrome must represent a dysfunctional response to a situation or event that exposes the Covered Person to an increased risk of pain, suffering, conflict, illness, or death. |
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Mentally disabled | An individual who has been diagnosed to have a psychiatric or behavior disorder that severely limits the individual's ability to function without daily supervision or assistance. |
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Not medically necessary | Services, supplies, treatment, facilities or equipment which the Plan determines are not Medically Necessary. Furthermore, this Plan excludes services, supplies, treatment, facilities or equipment which reliable scientific evidence has shown does not cure the condition, slow the degeneration/deterioration or harm attributable to the condition, alleviate the symptoms of the condition, or maintain the current health status of the Covered Person. |
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Observation stay | Observation care is a well-defined set of specific, clinically appropriate services, which include ongoing short term treatment, assessment, and reassessment before a decision can be made regarding whether patients will require further treatment as a hospital inpatient or if they are able to be discharged from the hospital. Observation status is commonly assigned to patients who present to the emergency department and who then require a significant period of treatment or monitoring before a decision is made concerning their admission or discharge. |
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Partial hospitalization | A time-limited, ambulatory, active treatment program that offers therapeutically intensive, coordinated, and structured clinical services with a stable therapeutic environment. It provides 20 hours of scheduled programming, extended over a minimum of five days per week, by a licensed or Joint Commission accredited facility |
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Plan Allowance | Our Plan allowance is the amount we use to determine our payment and your coinsurance for covered services. Fee-for-service plans determine their allowance in different ways. We determine our allowances as follows:
PPO Providers - Our Plan allowance is a negotiated amount between the Plan and the provider. The Plan allowance must be considered reasonable, and we base our coinsurance on this negotiated amount. The PPO benefit also applies to providers used outside the 50 United States. Please note you will not be responsible for any amount above the providers’ negotiated rate.
Non-PPO Providers - Applies to High Option only; Standard Option does not offer out-of-network benefits except in cases of emergency. Our Plan allowance is the lesser of: (1) the providers' billed charge; or (2) the Plan's out-of-network (OON) fee schedule amount.
When you receive care from a Non-PPO provider, our allowance is determined as follows:
- Rule One: When a Non-PPO provider has an agreement with us to discount their charges, our allowance is the amount that the provider has negotiated and agreed to accept for the services or supplies. You are not responsible for the difference between the allowance and the provider’s billed charges. If the provider has not agreed to discount their charges, we will access Rule Two.
- Rule Two: An amount equal to 200% of the current Medicare rate for professional and facility expenses. You may be responsible for the difference between the allowance and the provider’s billed charges. If there is no Medicare rate for the service(s) billed, we will access Rule Three.
- Rule Three: We will utilize outside sources, such as Fair Health, Inc., to determine the allowance for certain services and supplies in a specific geographic area. You may be responsible for the difference between the allowance and the provider’s billed charges.
For certain services, exceptions may exist to the use of the OON fee schedule to determine the Plan's allowance for non-PPO providers, including, but not limited to, the use of Medicare fee schedule amounts. For claims governed by OBRA '90 and '93, the Plan allowance will be based on Medicare allowable amounts as is required by law. For claims where the Plan is the secondary payor to Medicare (Medicare COB situations), the Plan allowance is the Medicare allowable charge.
For more information, see Section 4, Differences between our allowance and the bill.
You should also see Important Notice About Surprise Billing – Know Your Rights in Section 4 that describes your protections against surprise billing under the No Surprises Act. |
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Post-service claims | Any claims that are not pre-service claims. In other words, post-service claims are those claims where treatment has been performed and the claims have been sent to us in order to apply for benefits. |
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Pre-service claims | Those claims (1) that require precertification, prior approval, or a referral and (2) where failure to obtain precertification, prior approval, or a referral results in a reduction of benefits. |
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Prosthetic device
| An artificial substitute for a missing functional body part (such as an arm or leg) because the body part is permanently damaged, is absent or is malfunctioning. |
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Rehabilitative services | Health care services that help you keep, get back, or improve skills and functioning for daily living that have been lost or impaired because you were sick, hurt, or disabled. These services may include physical and occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and psychiatric rehabilitation services in a variety of inpatient and/or outpatient settings. |
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Reimbursement | A carrier's pursuit of a recovery if a covered individual has suffered an illness or injury and has received, in connection with that illness or injury, a payment from any party that may be liable, any applicable insurance policy, or a workers' compensation program or insurance policy, and the terms of the carrier's health benefits plan require the covered individual, as a result of such payment, to reimburse the carrier out of the payment to the extent of the benefits initially paid or provided. The right of reimbursement is cumulative with and not exclusive of the right of subrogation. |
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Respite Care | Provides temporary relief to the family or other caregivers in the case of an emergency or to provide temporary relief from the daily demands of caring for a terminally ill person. |
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Routine physical examination
| A complete evaluation, including a comprehensive history and physical examination, without symptoms or illness. |
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Routine testing/screening | Health care services you receive from a covered provider without any apparent signs or symptoms of an illness, injury or disease. |
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Sound natural tooth
| A tooth that is whole or properly restored and is without impairment, periodontal, or other conditions and is not in need of the treatment provided for any other reason other than an accidental injury. |
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Subrogation | A carrier's pursuit of a recovery from any party that may be liable, any applicable insurance policy, or a workers' compensation program or insurance policy, as successor to the rights of a covered individual who suffered an illness or injury and has obtained benefits from that carrier's health benefits plan. |
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Substance abuse | Disorders listed in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) requiring treatment for abuse of or dependence upon substances such as alcohol, narcotics, or hallucinogens. |
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Surprise bill | An unexpected bill you receive for:
- emergency care – when you have little or no say in the facility or provider from whom you receive care, or for;
- non-emergency services furnished by nonparticipating providers with respect to patient visits to participating health care facilities, or for;
- air ambulance services furnished by nonparticipating providers of air ambulance services.
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Urgent care claims | A claim for medical care or treatment is an urgent care claim if waiting for the regular time limit for non-urgent care claims could have one of the following impacts:
- Waiting could seriously jeopardize your life or health;
- Waiting could seriously jeopardize your ability to regain maximum function; or
- In the opinion of a physician with knowledge of your medical condition, waiting would subject you to severe pain that cannot be adequately managed without the care or treatment that is the subject of the claim.
Urgent care claims usually involve pre-service claims and not post-service claims. We will determine whether or not a claim is an urgent care claim by applying the judgment of a prudent layperson who possesses an average knowledge of health and medicine.
If you believe your claim qualifies as an urgent care claim, please contact our Customer Service Department at UMR, P.O. Box 8095 Wausau, WI 54402-8095, or call (888) 438-9135. You may also prove that your claim is an urgent care claim by providing evidence that a physician with knowledge of your medical condition has determined that your claim involves urgent care. |
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Us/We | Us and we refer to the Compass Rose Health Plan. |
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You
| You refers to the enrollee and each covered family member. |
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