Non-Participating Providers
Virginia law currently requires licensed physicians practicing in the Commonwealth to pay an annual Birth-Injury Program assessment, regardless of specialty, including physicians who do not provide obstetrical care.
While obstetricians and other delivering providers may become participants in the Birth-Injury Program, all other licensed Virginia physicians also play a key role. The Virginia General Assembly established the Program to help hold down malpractice insurance rates for all physicians, which studies show it has accomplished.
As a part of the original statute (Virginia Code §38.2-5020), when deemed necessary by the Virginia Bureau of Insurance, all non-participating licensed physicians in Virginia, of any specialty, are assessed an annual $300 fee to help fund the Program. (Other times, participant fees are the only income; no state general funds are provided to the Birth-Injury Program.) This physician assessment has been implemented for about half of the years since the Program’s creation, and is currently in place.
Physicians should complete the Physician Assessment form and pay the annual assessment to comply.
Paying the annual assessment does not make you a participating provider. Physicians who wish to become participating providers must separately execute a Participation Agreement and pay the applicable participating provider fee.
Assessment Process
When in effect, the annual assessment process begins September 30 for the upcoming calendar year. On that date, by law, the Program downloads all eligible licensed physician names and addresses from the State database. These names and addresses must be utilized for mailing assessment notices to physicians. Three notices are sent, with the first mailed in October for the upcoming year. A second notice is mailed around February, and a third, by certified mail, around May. (Note: All licensed physicians are required to notify the State Board of Medicine of an address change within 30-days of the change.)
The Birth-Injury Program may to turn over the names of any non-responding physicians to the State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Insurance for enforcement. The State Corporation Commission may impose a fine of up to $5,000.
