All nonprofit hospital or medical service organizations and nonprofit health care plans providing payment or reimbursement for diagnosis or treatment of a condition or a complaint by a licensed physician or chiropractor health care practitioner must accept the current standardized claim form for professional services approved by the Federal Government and submitted electronically. All nonprofit hospital or medical service organizations and nonprofit health care plans providing payment or reimbursement for diagnosis or treatment of a condition or a complaint by a licensed hospital must accept the current standardized claim form for professional or facility services, as applicable, approved by the Federal Government and submitted electronically. A nonprofit hospital or medical service organization or nonprofit health care plan may not be required to accept a claim submitted on a form other than the applicable form specified in this section and may not be required to accept a claim that is not submitted electronically, except from a health care practitioner who is exempt pursuant to section 2985.

Sec. D-2. 24 MRSA §2985, as enacted by PL 1993, c. 477, Pt. D, §7 and affected by Pt. F, §1, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

§2985.__Billing for health care services

A health care practitioner, as defined in section 2502, subsection 1-A,__who directly bills for health care services must use the current standardized claim form for professional services approved by the Federal Government and, after October 16, 2003, must submit claims in electronic data format to a carrier, as defined in Title 24-A, section 4301-A, subsection 3, that accepts claims in an electronic format.__A health care practitioner or group of health care practitioners with fewer than 10 full-time- equivalent health care practitioners and other employees is exempt from the requirement to submit claims in electronic data format until October 16, 2005.__Beginning October 16, 2005, a health care practitioner or group of health care practitioners with fewer than 10 full-time-equivalent health care practitioners and other employees may apply to the Superintendent of Insurance for a continued exemption from the requirement to submit claims in electronic data format based upon hardship.__The Superintendent of Insurance shall adopt rules relating to the process for a hardship exemption and the standard for determining whether a practitioner has demonstrated hardship. Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.