Section 33-20A-32. Right to appeal

   An eligible enrollee shall be entitled to appeal to an independent review organization when:

   (1) The eligible enrollee has received notice of an adverse outcome pursuant to a grievance procedure or the managed care entity has not complied with the requirements of Code Section 33-20A-5 with regard to such procedure; or

   (2) A managed care entity determines that a proposed treatment is excluded as experimental under the managed care plan, and all of the following criteria are met:

      (A) The eligible enrollee has a terminal condition that, according to the treating physician, has a substantial probability of causing death within two years from the date of the request for independent review or the eligible enrollee's ability to regain or maintain maximum function, as determined by the treating physician, would be impaired by withholding the experimental treatment;

      (B) After exhaustion of standard treatment as provided by the evidence of coverage or a finding that such treatment would be of substantially lesser or of no benefit, the eligible enrollee's treating physician certifies that the eligible enrollee has a condition for which standard treatment would not be medically indicated for the eligible enrollee or for which there is no standard treatment available under the evidence of coverage of the eligible enrollee more beneficial than the treatment proposed;

      (C) The eligible enrollee's treating physician has recommended and certified in writing treatment which is likely to be more beneficial to the eligible enrollee than any available standard treatment;

      (D) The eligible enrollee has requested a treatment as to which the eligible enrollee's treating physician, who is a licensed, board certified or board eligible physician qualified to practice in the area of medicine appropriate to treat the eligible enrollee's condition, has certified in writing that scientifically valid studies using accepted protocols, such as control group or double-blind testing, published in peer reviewed literature, demonstrate that the proposed treatment is likely to be more beneficial for the eligible enrollee than available standard treatment; and

      (E) A specific treatment recommended would otherwise be included within the eligible enrollee's certificate of coverage, except for the determination by the managed care entity that such treatment is experimental for a particular condition.

Code 1981, § 33-20A-32, enacted by Ga. L. 1999, p. 350, § 3; Ga. L. 2005, p. 1438, § 2/SB 140.