Title 23, Public Utilities and Regulated Industries

(a) Reports shall be filed in accordance with the provisions of this section. (b) (1) Every society transacting business in this state shall annually, on or before March 1, unless for cause shown such time has been extended by the Insurance Commissioner, file with the commissione…

Societies which are now authorized to transact business in this state may continue such business until April 1, 1990. The authority of such societies and all societies hereafter licensed may thereafter be renewed annually, but in all cases to terminate on the succeeding April 1. …

(a) (1) The Insurance Commissioner, or any person he or she may appoint, may examine any domestic, foreign, or alien society transacting or applying for admission to transact business in this state in the same manner as authorized for examination of domestic, foreign, or alien in…

(a) No foreign or alien society shall transact business in this state without a license issued by the Insurance Commissioner. Any such society desiring admission to this state shall comply substantially with the requirements and limitations of this chapter applicable to domestic …

(a) When the Insurance Commissioner upon investigation finds that a domestic society:(1) Has exceeded its powers;(2) Has failed to comply with any provision of this chapter;(3) Is not fulfilling its contracts in good faith;(4) Has a membership of less than four hundred (400) afte…

(a) When the Insurance Commissioner upon investigation finds that a foreign or alien society transacting or applying to transact business in this state:(1) Has exceeded its powers;(2) Has failed to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter;(3) Is not fulfilling its contra…

No application or petition for injunction against any domestic, foreign, or alien society, or lodge thereof, shall be recognized in any court of this state unless made by the Attorney General upon request of the Insurance Commissioner.

(a) Agents of societies shall be licensed in accordance with the provisions of the laws regulating the licensing, revocation, suspension, or termination of license of resident and nonresident agents, provided that:(1) No examination shall be required to maintain or renew a licens…

Every society authorized to do business in this state shall be subject to the Trade Practices Act, § 23-66-201 et seq. However, nothing in the Trade Practices Act, § 23-66-201 et seq., shall be construed as applying to or affecting the right of any society to determine its eligib…

(a) (1) Every society authorized to do business in this state shall appoint in writing to the Insurance Commissioner an Arkansas resident as its registered agent to be its true and lawful attorney upon whom all lawful process in any action or proceeding against it shall be served…

All decisions and findings of the Insurance Commissioner made under the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to review by proper proceedings in any court of competent jurisdiction in this state.

(1) Any person who:(1) Willfully makes a false or fraudulent statement:(A) In or relating to an application for membership or for the purpose of obtaining money from or a benefit in any society upon conviction shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor; or(B) In any verified report…

(a) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be so construed as to affect or apply to:(1) Grand or subordinate lodges of societies, orders, or associations now doing business in this state which provide benefits exclusively through local or subordinate lodges;(2) Orders, societies…

(1) In addition to the provisions contained in this chapter, the following provisions of this code shall also apply to fraternal benefit societies to the extent as applicable:(1) Sections 23-60-101 — 23-60-108 and 23-60-110, general provisions;(2) Section 23-61-101 et seq., § 23-…

(a) As used in this chapter, “hospital service corporations”, “medical service corporations”, and “hospital and medical service corporations” are corporations organized under the laws of this state for the purpose of establishing, maintaining, and operating nonprofit hospital ser…

(1) The corporations described in § 23-75-101 are subject to the following chapters and provisions of this code, to the extent applicable and not in conflict with the express provisions of this chapter:(1) Sections 23-60-101 — 23-60-108 and 23-60-110, referring to scope of code;(…

Hospital service corporations, medical service corporations, and hospital and medical service corporations incorporated in this state shall be governed by this chapter and shall be exempt from all other provisions of this code, except as expressly provided in this chapter. No ins…

(a) This chapter shall not apply to any employer operating or maintaining a hospital service plan or medical service plan, participation in which is limited to his or her employees and the employees of a parent company or subsidiary company of the employer. (b) As used in this se…

(a) Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to alter the relationship of physician and patient. (b) The corporation shall not in any way influence the subscriber in his or her free choice of hospital or physician, other than to limit its benefits to participating hospitals and ph…

(a) Any corporation shall hereafter be organized under the laws of this state relating to private corporations not for pecuniary profit, insofar as the laws are not inconsistent with this chapter. (b) (1) Upon adoption of an amendment to its articles of incorporation or bylaws, t…

(a) The corporation may issue contracts to its subscribers only when the Insurance Commissioner has, by certificate of authority, authorized it to do so. (b) Application for the certificate of authority shall be made on forms supplied or approved by the commissioner containing su…

(a) The Insurance Commissioner shall issue an initial certificate of authority authorizing the applicant to issue contracts to its subscribers when it is shown to the satisfaction of the commissioner that:(1) The applicant is established as a bona fide nonprofit hospital service …

(a) (1) Corporations governed by this chapter shall at all times have on deposit through the Insurance Commissioner sums as follows:(A) If newly formed under this chapter, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000); or(B) If formed under prior law, the sum as was required unde…

(a) A corporation holding a certificate of authority under this chapter may enter into contracts with:(1) Licensed hospitals;(2) Physicians and surgeons licensed to practice in this state;(3) Licensed nursing homes;(4) Visiting nurse associations; and(5) Any hospital maintained a…

(a) (1) All rates charged by the corporation to subscribers or classes of subscribers having contracts covered by §§ 23-85-101 — 23-85-131, and the form and content of all contracts between the corporation and its subscribers, classes of subscribers, or groups of subscribers, and…

(1) The directors of a corporation shall at all times include representatives of:(1) Administrators or trustees of hospitals which have contracted with the corporation to render hospital service to subscribers, if the corporation is a hospital service corporation or a hospital an…

(a) The operating and administrative expenses of any corporation, including, but not limited to, all costs in connection with the solicitation of subscribers to such a corporation and capital expenditures, shall not exceed:(1) Thirty percent (30%) of paid subscriptions during the…

(a) (1) Not later than March 1 of each year, every corporation shall file with the Insurance Commissioner a statement sworn to by at least two (2) of its principal officers, showing its condition on the last day of the next preceding calendar year.(2) In accordance with the speci…

(1) Any surplus in excess of all reserves established by the directors of the corporation and shown in the annual report of a corporation may be used by the corporation for the following purposes in the order of priority shown:(1) To liquidate on a pro rata basis any losses incur…

No liability shall attach to any corporation holding a certificate of authority under this chapter by reason of the failure on the part of any hospital or physician to render service to any of its subscribers, nor for the negligence, malpractice, or other acts of hospitals or phy…

All orders of the Insurance Commissioner made pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to the provisions of § 23-61-101 et seq. and § 23-61-201 et seq., including the right of hearing, rehearing, and appeal.

(a) The officers of every foreign or alien corporation, and the officers of every domestic corporation, transacting business under this chapter shall, at the time of making its annual statement, file with the Insurance Commissioner a sworn statement of its net direct written prem…

(a) Every corporation doing business pursuant to this chapter is declared to be a nonprofit and benevolent institution. (b) The corporations are exempt from state, county, district, municipal, and school tax, including the taxes prescribed by this code, and excepting only tax on …

Hospital and medical service corporations shall have power to make donations for the public welfare or for charitable, scientific, or educational purposes, subject to such limitations, if any, as may be contained in its articles of incorporation or any amendment thereto.

(a) A hospital and medical service corporation, as defined in § 23-75-101, may be converted to a legal reserve mutual life insurer, as defined in § 23-69-102, under a plan or procedure which shall be approved by the order of the Insurance Commissioner. (b) The commissioner shall …

(a) The General Assembly determines that health maintenance organizations, when properly regulated, encourage methods of treatment and controls over the quality of care which effectively contain costs and provide for continuous health care by undertaking responsibility for the pr…

(1) As used in this chapter:(1) “Commissioner” means the Insurance Commissioner;(2) “Domestic corporation” means any corporation organized pursuant to the Arkansas Business Corporation Act, § 4-26-101 et seq., and the Arkansas Nonprofit Corporation Act, § 4-28-201 et seq.;(3) “En…

(a) (1) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, provisions of the insurance law and provisions of hospital and medical service corporation laws shall not be applicable to any health maintenance organization granted a certificate of authority under this chapter.(2) Subdivisi…

(a) Except to the extent that the Insurance Commissioner determines that the nature of health maintenance organizations, healthcare plans, and evidences of coverage render such sections clearly inappropriate, the following sections are applicable to health maintenance organizatio…

(a) In lieu of suspension or revocation of a certificate of authority under § 23-76-123, the Insurance Commissioner may levy an administration penalty in an amount not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250), nor more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), if reasona…

No person shall perform any of the services or procedures or sell or dispense any goods or devices in the field of the healing arts for which a license is required under the laws of the State of Arkansas unless the person holds a valid license authorizing him or her to perform th…

(a) (1) Any person that meets the requirements of § 23-76-102(9) may apply to the Insurance Commissioner for and obtain a certificate of authority to establish and operate a health maintenance organization.(2) No person shall establish or operate a health maintenance organization…

(a) Upon receipt of an application for issuance of a certificate of authority, the Insurance Commissioner shall determine whether the applicant furnishes or proposes to furnish adequate and accessible healthcare services for its healthcare plans subject to the requirements or rul…

(a) The powers of a health maintenance organization include, but are not limited to, the following:(1) The purchase, lease, construction, renovation, operation, or maintenance of hospitals, medical facilities, or both, and their ancillary equipment, and the property as may reason…

(a) The advisory board of any health maintenance organization shall include at least one (1) physician, one (1) dentist, one (1) pharmacist, one (1) nurse, one (1) consumer, and one (1) enrollee. (b) The advisory board shall establish a mechanism to afford the enrollees an opport…

(a) Any director, officer, or partner of a health maintenance organization who receives, collects, disburses, or invests funds in connection with the activities of the health maintenance organization shall be responsible for the funds in a fiduciary relationship to the enrollees.…