(A) When pursuant to section 4731.228 of
the Revised Code a health care entity provides to patients a notice of the
termination of a physician's employment, the notice shall be provided in
one of the following ways:
(1) A letter sent via
regular mail to the last address for the patient on record, with the date of
mailing of the letter documented;
(2) An electronic message
sent via a HIPAA compliant electronic medical record system or HIPAA compliant
electronic health record system that provides a means of electronic
communication between the health care entity and the patient and is capable of
sending the patient a notification that a message has been received and is in
the patient's portal.
(B) When pursuant to section 4731.228 of
the Revised Code a health care entity provides the physician whose employment
has been terminated for any reason with a list of patients treated and the
patient contact information, the physician shall provide the notice required by
section 4731.228 of the Revised Code by one of the ways authorized by paragraph
(A)(1) or (A)(2) of this rule. In addition, the physician may, but is not
required to, publish a notice in a newspaper of greatest circulation in the
county in which the physician has practiced and in a local newspaper that
serves the immediate practice area.
(C) Except as provided in paragraph (D)
of this rule, a physician who is an independent contractor, who provides
physician services as an employee or an owner at a medical practice that is not
a health care entity, as that term is used in section 4731.228 of the Revised
Code, or who has an ownership interest in a health care entity, as that term is
defined in section 4731.228 of the Revised Code, shall provide notice in
compliance with the following requirements when leaving, selling, or retiring
from the health care entity or other medical practice entity where the
physician has provided physician services:
(1) The notice shall be
sent to all patients who received physician services from the physician within
the two-years immediately preceding the physician's last date for seeing
patients;
(2) The notice shall be
provided as authorized in paragraph (A)(1) or (A)(2) of this rule.
(a) The notice shall be sent no later than thirty days
prior to the last date the physician will see patients or upon actual knowledge
that the physician will be leaving, selling, or retiring from the health care
entity, whichever is earlier.
(b) A physician shall make a good faith effort to comply
with paragraph (C)(2)(a) of this rule. However, a physician who because of
acute illness or unforeseen emergency is unable to provide the notice thirty
days prior to the last date of seeing patients shall provide the notice
required by paragraph (C) of this rule no later than thirty days after it is
determined that the physician will not be returning to the health care
entity.
(3) The notice shall
include all of the following:
(a) A statement that the physician will no longer be
practicing medicine at the health care entity;
(b) The date on which the physician ceased or will cease to
provide medicine services at the health care entity;
(c) If the physician will be practicing medicine in another
location, contact information for the physician subsequent to leaving the
health care entity;
(d) Contact information for an alternative physician or
physicians employed by the health care entity or contact information for a
group practice that can provide care for the patient;
(e) Contact information that enables the patient to obtain
information on the patient's medical records.
(D) The requirements of paragraphs (A),
(B) and (C) of this rule do not apply to the following:
(1) A physician who
rendered medical service to a person on an episodic basis or in an emergency
department or urgent care center, when it should not be reasonably expected
that related medical service will be rendered by the physician to the patient
in the future;
(2) A medical director or
other physician providing services in a similar capacity to a medical director
to patients through a hospice care program licensed pursuant to section 3712.04
of the Revised Code;
(3) Medical residents,
interns, and fellows who work in hospitals, health systems, federally qualified
health centers, and federally qualified health center look-alikes as part of
their medical education and training;
(4) A physician providing
services to a patient through a community mental health agency certified by the
director of mental health under section 5119.611 of the Revised Code or an
alcohol and drug addiction program certified by the department of alcohol and
drug addiction services under section 3793.06 of the Revised Code;
(5) A physician providing
services to a patient through a federally qualified health center or a
federally qualified health center look-alike.
(E) A physician's failure to
provide notice in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (B) or (C) of
this rule, as determined by the state medical board of Ohio, shall constitute
"a departure from, or failure to conform to, minimal standards of care of
similar practitioners under the same or similar circumstances, whether or not
actual injury to a patient is established," as that clause is used in
division (B)(6) of section 4731.22 of the Revised Code.
(F) Nothing in this rule shall limit the
board's authority to investigate and take action under section 4731.22 of
the Revised Code.
