After-Hours Care Requirements

Use one of these methods to help members after regular business hours:

A professional answering service that contacts you or the provider covering for you

A high-quality answering machine or voice mail system that tells members:

• How to reach you or your substitute in an emergency, including phone number(s)

• What do do in an emergency, including local emergency room phone numbers if available

Rural Behavioral Health Providers may direct members to the emergency room via an answering machine only if there is no participating provider in the same field of practice to share on-call coverage.

• Instructions must clearly direct members with non-emergency situations to call the emergency room first.

• The message should also provide the telephone number(s) of the emergency room(s) available in the area.

If your instructions ask the member to leave a message, you are expected to respond to the message quickly.

Read the full policy covering the after-hours medical care requirements for Priority Health providers.

Read the full standards for after-hours behavioral health care.