PARRIS N. GLENDENING, Governor                              Ch. 580

CHAPTER 580
(House Bill 863)

AN ACT concerning

Health Insurance - Gynecological Care

FOR the purpose of altering the circumstances under which certain insurers and
nonprofit health service plans, including health maintenance organizations, shall
permit a woman to receive certain gynecological care from an in-network
obstetrician/gynecologist who is not her primary care physician; requiring an
obstetrician/gynecologist to consult with and obtain approval from confer with a
primary care physician under certain circumstances; and generally relating to
gynecological care in health insurance.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article 48A - Insurance Code
Section 490Z(a)
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1994 Replacement Volume and 1995 Supplement)

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article - Health - General
Section 19-706(k)(1)
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1990 Replacement Volume and 1995 Supplement)

Preamble

WHEREAS, The findings of a Gallop Gallup Organization survey of 500 women
who live and work in downtown Baltimore City showed that between 38 and 44 percent of
all women age 18 through 40 visit only an obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN) for routine
care; and

WHEREAS, For women age 41 and older, 27 percent see only an OB/GYN for
their routine care; and

WHEREAS, For minority women and those women of limited financial means, the
percentages in all age groups who see only an OB/GYN for their routine care are
significantly higher than others; and

WHEREAS, The federal Health Security Act has recognized that an OB/GYN is
sometimes the only physician a significant number of women see for their primary care
needs; and

WHEREAS, The legislation enacted in 1994 by the Maryland General Assembly to
address this issue during its 1994 session has been interpreted by insurers as prohibiting
an OB/GYN who chooses not to be a primary care physician from seeing patients without

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