I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2937 

To amend the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income 

Security Act of 1974, and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require 

that group and individual health insurance coverage and group health 

plans permit enrollees direct access to services of obstetrical and gynecological physician services directly and without a referral. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 16, 2005 

Mrs. DAVIS of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce and Ways and Means, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986 to require that group and individual health insurance coverage and group health plans 

permit enrollees direct access to services of obstetrical 

and gynecological physician services directly and without 

a referral. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women’s Obstetrician 

3 and Gynecologist Access Now Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. WOMEN’S ACCESS TO OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECO5 LOGICAL SERVICES. 

6 (a) GROUP HEALTH PLANS.— 

7 (1) PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT AMEND8 MENTS.—(A) Subpart 2 of part A of title XXVII of 

9 the Public Health Service Act is amended by adding 

10 at the end the following new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 2707. STANDARD RELATING TO WOMEN’S ACCESS TO 

12 OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL SERV13 ICES. 

14 ‘‘(a) DIRECT ACCESS REQUIRED.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A group health plan, and a 

16 health insurance issuer offering group health insur17 ance coverage, shall allow a participant or bene18 ficiary the option to seek obstetrical and gyneco19 logical physician services directly from a partici20 pating obstetrician and gynecologist or directly from 

21 a participating family practice physician and sur22 geon designated by the plan or issuer as providing 

23 obstetrical and gynecological services. A group 

24 health plan or health insurance issuer, in connection 

25 with the offering of group health insurance coverage, 

26 shall not require a participant or beneficiary to ob-
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1 tain prior approval from another physician, another 

2 provider, the plan or issuer, or any other person 

3 prior to obtaining direct access to obstetrical and 

4 gynecological physician services. 

5 ‘‘(2) CONSTRUCTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

6 be construed as preventing a plan or issuer— 

7 ‘‘(A) from establishing reasonable require8 ments for the participating obstetrician and 

9 gynecologist or family practice physician and 

10 surgeon to communicate with the participant’s 

11 or beneficiary’s primary care physician and sur12 geon regarding the participant’s or beneficiary’s 

13 condition, treatment, and any need for followup 

14 care; or 

15 ‘‘(B) from establishing reasonable provi16 sions governing utilization protocols and the use 

17 of obstetricians and gynecologists, or family 

18 practice physicians and surgeons, participating 

19 in the plan or issuer network, medical group, or 

20 independent practice association, so long as 

21 these provisions— 

22 ‘‘(i) are consistent with the intent of 

23 such paragraph; 

24 ‘‘(ii) are those customarily applied to 

25 other physicians and surgeons, such as pri-
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1 mary care physicians and surgeons, to 

2 whom the participant or beneficiary has di3 rect access; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) are not to be more restrictive for 

5 the provision of obstetrical and gyneco6 logical physician services. 

7 ‘‘(b) NOTICE.—A group health plan under this part 

8 shall comply with the notice requirement under section 

9 714(b) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 

10 of 1974 with respect to the requirements of this section 

11 as if such section applied to such plan.’’. 

12 (2) ERISA AMENDMENTS.—(A) Subpart B of 

13 part 7 of subtitle B of title I of the Employee Re14 tirement Income Security Act of 1974 is amended by 

15 adding at the end the following new section: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 714. STANDARD RELATING TO WOMEN’S ACCESS TO 

17 OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL SERV18 ICES. 

19 ‘‘(a) DIRECT ACCESS REQUIRED.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A group health plan, and a 

21 health insurance issuer offering group health insur22 ance coverage, shall allow a participant or bene23 ficiary the option to seek obstetrical and gyneco24 logical physician services directly from a partici25 pating obstetrician and gynecologist or directly from 
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1 a participating family practice physician and sur2 geon designated by the plan or issuer as providing 

3 obstetrical and gynecological services. A group 

4 health plan or health insurance issuer, in connection 

5 with the offering of group health insurance coverage, 

6 shall not require a participant or beneficiary to ob7 tain prior approval from another physician, another 

8 provider, the plan or issuer, or any other person 

9 prior to obtaining direct access to obstetrical and 

10 gynecological physician services. 

11 ‘‘(2) CONSTRUCTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

12 be construed as preventing a plan or issuer— 

13 ‘‘(A) from establishing reasonable require14 ments for the participating obstetrician and 

15 gynecologist or family practice physician and 

16 surgeon to communicate with the participant’s 

17 or beneficiary’s primary care physician and sur18 geon regarding the participant’s or beneficiary’s 

19 condition, treatment, and any need for followup 

20 care; or 

21 ‘‘(B) from establishing reasonable provi22 sions governing utilization protocols and the use 

23 of obstetricians and gynecologists, or family 

24 practice physicians and surgeons, participating 

25 in the plan or issuer network, medical group, or 
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1 independent practice association, so long as 

2 these provisions— 

3 ‘‘(i) are consistent with the intent of 

4 such paragraph; 

5 ‘‘(ii) are those customarily applied to 

6 other physicians and surgeons, such as pri7 mary care physicians and surgeons, to 

8 whom the participant or beneficiary has di9 rect access; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) are not to be more restrictive for 

11 the provision of obstetrical and gyneco12 logical physician services. 

13 ‘‘(b) NOTICE UNDER GROUP HEALTH PLAN.—The 

14 imposition of the requirement of this section shall be treat15 ed as a material modification in the terms of the plan de16 scribed in section 102(a)(1), for purposes of assuring no17 tice of such requirements under the plan; except that the 

18 summary description required to be provided under the 

19 last sentence of section 104(b)(1) with respect to such 

20 modification shall be provided by not later than 60 days 

21 after the first day of the first plan year in which such 

22 requirement apply.’’. 

23 (B) Section 732(a) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 

24 1191a(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 711’’ and 

25 inserting ‘‘sections 711 and 714’’. 
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1 (C) The table of contents in section 1 of such 

2 Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 

3 to section 713 the following new item: 

‘‘714. Standard relating to women’s access to obstetrical and gynecological services.’’. 

4 (3) INTERNAL REVENUE CODE AMEND5 MENTS.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter B of chap7 ter 100 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

8 is amended— 

9 (i) in the table of sections, by insert10 ing after the item relating to section 9812 

11 the following new item: 

‘‘9813. Standard relating to women’s access to obstetrical and gynecological 

services.’’; 

12 and 

13 (ii) by inserting after section 9812 the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 9813. STANDARD RELATING TO WOMEN’S ACCESS TO 

16 OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL SERV17 ICES. 

18 ‘‘(a) DIRECT ACCESS REQUIRED.—A group health 

19 plan, and a health insurance issuer offering group health 

20 insurance coverage, shall allow a participant or beneficiary 

21 the option to seek obstetrical and gynecological physician 

22 services directly from a participating obstetrician and gyn23 ecologist or directly from a participating family practice 
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1 physician and surgeon designated by the plan or issuer 

2 as providing obstetrical and gynecological services. A 

3 group health plan or health insurance issuer, in connection 

4 with the offering of group health insurance coverage, shall 

5 not require a participant or beneficiary to obtain prior ap6 proval from another physician, another provider, the plan 

7 or issuer, or any other person prior to obtaining direct 

8 access to obstetrical and gynecological physician services. 

9 ‘‘(b) CONSTRUCTION.—Subsection (a) shall not be 

10 construed as preventing a plan or issuer— 

11 ‘‘(1) from establishing reasonable requirements 

12 for the participating obstetrician and gynecologist or 

13 family practice physician and surgeon to commu14 nicate with the participant’s or beneficiary’s primary 

15 care physician and surgeon regarding the partici16 pant’s or beneficiary’s condition, treatment, and any 

17 need for followup care; or 

18 ‘‘(2) from establishing reasonable provisions 

19 governing utilization protocols and the use of obste20 tricians and gynecologists, or family practice physi21 cians and surgeons, participating in the plan or 

22 issuer network, medical group, or independent prac23 tice association, so long as these provisions— 

24 ‘‘(A) are consistent with the intent of such 

25 subsection; 
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1 ‘‘(B) are those customarily applied to other 

2 physicians and surgeons, such as primary care 

3 physicians and surgeons, to whom the partici4 pant or beneficiary has direct access; and 

5 ‘‘(C) are not to be more restrictive for the 

6 provision of obstetrical and gynecological physi7 cian services.’’. 

8 (B) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

9 4980D(d)(1) of such Code is amended by strik10 ing ‘‘section 9811’’ and inserting ‘‘sections 

11 9811 and 9813’’. 

12 (b) INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE.—Part B of 

13 title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act is amended 

14 by inserting after section 2752 the following new section: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 2753. STANDARD RELATING TO WOMEN’S ACCESS TO 

16 OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL SERV17 ICES. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The provisions of section 

19 2707(a) shall apply to health insurance coverage offered 

20 by a health insurance issuer in the individual market in 

21 the same manner as they apply to health insurance cov22 erage offered by a health insurance issuer in connection 

23 with a group health plan in the small or large group mar24 ket. 
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1 ‘‘(b) NOTICE.—A health insurance issuer under this 

2 part shall comply with the notice requirement under sec3 tion 714(b) of the Employee Retirement Income Security 

4 Act of 1974 with respect to the requirements referred to 

5 in subsection (a) as if such section applied to such issuer 

6 and such issuer were a group health plan.’’. 

7 (c) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

8 (1) GROUP HEALTH PLANS AND GROUP

9 HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE.—Subject to para10 graph (3), the amendments made by subsection (a) 

11 apply with respect to group health plans for plan 

12 years beginning more than 180 days after the date 

13 of the enactment of this Act. 

14 (2) INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE COV15 ERAGE.—The amendment made by subsection (b) 

16 applies with respect to health insurance coverage of17 fered, sold, issued, renewed, in effect, or operated in 

18 the individual market on or after such date. 

19 (3) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING EXCEPTION.—In 

20 the case of a group health plan maintained pursuant 

21 to 1 or more collective bargaining agreements be22 tween employee representatives and 1 or more em23 ployers ratified before the date of enactment of this 

24 Act, the amendments made subsection (a) shall not 

25 apply to plan years beginning before the later of— 
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1 (A) the date on which the last collective 

2 bargaining agreements relating to the plan ter3 minates (determined without regard to any ex4 tension thereof agreed to after the date of en5 actment of this Act), or 

6 (B) the date that is 180 days after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act. 

8 For purposes of subparagraph (A), any plan amend9 ment made pursuant to a collective bargaining 

10 agreement relating to the plan which amends the 

11 plan solely to conform to any requirement added by 

12 subsection (a) shall not be treated as a termination 

13 of such collective bargaining agreement. 

14 (d) COORDINATION OF ADMINISTRATION.—The Sec15 retary of Labor, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the 

16 Secretary of Health and Human Services shall ensure, 

17 through the execution of an interagency memorandum of 

18 understanding among such Secretaries, that— 

19 (1) regulations, rulings, and interpretations 

20 issued by such Secretaries relating to the same mat21 ter over which two or more such Secretaries have re22 sponsibility under the provisions of this Act (and the 

23 amendments made thereby) are administered so as 

24 to have the same effect at all times; and 
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1 (2) coordination of policies relating to enforcing 

2 the same requirements through such Secretaries in 

3 order to have a coordinated enforcement strategy 

4 that avoids duplication of enforcement efforts and 

5 assigns priorities in enforcement. 

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