DEFINITIONS.

In this chapter:

(1) "Exclusive provider benefit plan" means a benefit plan in which an insurer excludes benefits to an insured for some or all services, other than emergency care services required under Section 1301.155, provided by a physician or health care provider who is not a preferred provider.

(1-a) "Health care provider" means a practitioner, institutional provider, or other person or organization that furnishes health care services and that is licensed or otherwise authorized to practice in this state. The term includes a pharmacist and a pharmacy. The term does not include a physician.

(2) "Health insurance policy" means a group or individual insurance policy, certificate, or contract providing benefits for medical or surgical expenses incurred as a result of an accident or sickness.

(3) "Hospital" means a licensed public or private institution as defined by Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code, or Subtitle C, Title 7, Health and Safety Code.

(4) "Institutional provider" means a hospital, nursing home, or other medical or health-related service facility that provides care for the sick or injured or other care that may be covered in a health insurance policy.

(5) "Insurer" means a life, health, and accident insurance company, health and accident insurance company, health insurance company, or other company operating under Chapter 841, 842, 884, 885, 982, or 1501, that is authorized to issue, deliver, or issue for delivery in this state health insurance policies.

(5-a) "Out-of-network provider" means a physician or health care provider who is not a preferred provider.

(6) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine in this state.

(6-a) "Post-emergency stabilization care" means health care services that are furnished by an out-of-network provider, including an out-of-network hospital, freestanding emergency medical care facility, or comparable emergency facility, regardless of the department of the facility in which the services are furnished, after an insured is stabilized and as part of outpatient observation or an inpatient or outpatient stay with respect to the visit in which the emergency care, as defined by Section 1301.155, is furnished.

(7) "Practitioner" means a person who practices a healing art and is a practitioner described by Section 1451.001 or 1451.101.

(7-a) "Preauthorization" means a determination by an insurer that medical care or health care services proposed to be provided to a patient are medically necessary and appropriate.

(8) "Preferred provider" means a physician or health care provider, or an organization of physicians or health care providers, who contracts with an insurer to provide medical care or health care to insureds covered by a health insurance policy.

(9) "Preferred provider benefit plan" means a benefit plan in which an insurer provides, through its health insurance policy, for the payment of a level of coverage that is different from the basic level of coverage provided by the health insurance policy if the insured person uses a preferred provider.

(10) "Service area" means a geographic area or areas specified in a health insurance policy or preferred provider contract in which a network of preferred providers is offered and available.

(11) "Verification" means a reliable representation by an insurer to a physician or health care provider that the insurer will pay the physician or provider for proposed medical care or health care services if the physician or provider renders those services to the patient for whom the services are proposed. The term includes precertification, certification, recertification, and any other term that would be a reliable representation by an insurer to a physician or provider.

(12) "Freestanding emergency medical care facility" means a facility licensed under Chapter 254, Health and Safety Code.