42 U.S.C. § 300gg–138 — Continuity of care

This section covers a specific situation: a patient is being treated by a health care provider or facility, and that treatment is covered under a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage because of the continuity-of-care rules in section 300gg–113 of this title (or the matching sections in the tax code and labor code). In that situation, the provider or facility must: (1) Accept the plan's or issuer's payment — along with the patient's cost-sharing, if any, calculated the way subsection (a)(2)(C) of those continuity-of-care sections requires — as full payment for the items and services. The provider cannot bill the patient for more. (2) Keep following every policy, procedure, and quality standard that the plan or issuer applies to that patient and those items and services — treating the situation exactly as if the network relationship had not ended.