38.2-5020 - Assessments.
§ 38.2-5020. Assessments.
A. A physician who otherwise qualifies as a participating physician pursuantto this chapter may become a participating physician in the Program for aparticular calendar year by paying an annual participating physicianassessment to the Program in the amount of $5,000 on or before December 1 ofthe previous year, in the manner required by the plan of operation. EffectiveJanuary 1, 2009, the total annual assessment shall be $5,600, and shallincrease by $300 for the 2010 assessment and by $100 each year thereafter, toa maximum of $6,200 per year. The board may authorize a proratedparticipating physician or participating hospital assessment for a particularyear in its plan of operation, but such prorated assessment shall not becomeeffective until the physician or hospital has given at least 30 days' noticeto the Program of the request for a prorated assessment.
B. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A, a participating hospitalwith a residency training program accredited to the American Council forGraduate Medical Education may pay an annual participating physicianassessment to the Program for residency positions in the hospital's residencytraining program, in the manner provided by the plan of operation. However,any resident in a duly accredited family practice or obstetrics residencytraining program at a participating hospital shall be considered aparticipating physician in the Program and neither the resident nor thehospital shall be required to pay any assessment for such participation. Noresident shall become a participating physician in the Program, however,until 30 days following notification by the hospital to the Program of thename of the resident or residents filling the particular position for whichthe annual participating physician assessment payment, if required, has beenmade.
C. A hospital that otherwise qualifies as a participating hospital pursuantto this chapter may become a participating hospital in the Program for aparticular year by paying an annual participating hospital assessment to theProgram, on or before December 1 of the previous year, amounting to $50 perlive birth for the prior year, as reported to the Department of Health in theAnnual Survey of Hospitals. Effective January 1, 2009, the annualparticipating hospital assessment shall increase by $2.50 per live birth forthe prior year, as reported to the Department of Health in the Annual Surveyof Hospitals, and shall be increased at that rate each year thereafter to amaximum of $55 per live birth so reported for the prior year. Theparticipating hospital assessment shall not exceed $150,000 for anyparticipating hospital in any 12-month period until January 1, 2005.Effective January 1, 2005, the maximum total annual assessment shall be$160,000, and shall increase by $10,000 each year thereafter, to a maximum of$200,000 in any 12-month period.
D. All licensed physicians practicing in the Commonwealth on September 30 ofa particular year, other than participating physicians, shall pay to theProgram an annual assessment of $250 for the following year, in the mannerrequired by the plan of operation until January 1, 2005. Effective January 1,2005, the total annual assessment shall be $260, and shall increase by $10each year thereafter to a maximum of $300 per year.
Upon proper certification to the Program, the following physicians shall beexempt from the payment of the annual assessment under this subsection:
1. A physician who is employed by the Commonwealth or federal government andwhose income from professional fees is less than an amount equal to 10percent of the annual salary of the physician.
2. A physician who is enrolled in a full-time graduate medical educationprogram accredited by the American Council for Graduate Medical Education.
3. A physician who has retired from active clinical practice.
4. A physician whose active clinical practice is limited to the provision ofservices, voluntarily and without compensation, to any patient of any clinicwhich is organized in whole or in part for the delivery of health careservices without charge as provided in § 54.1-106.
E. Taking into account the assessments collected pursuant to subsections Athrough D of this section, if required to maintain the Fund on an actuariallysound basis, all insurance carriers licensed to write and engaged in writingliability insurance in the Commonwealth of a particular year, shall pay intothe Fund an assessment for the following year, in an amount determined by theState Corporation Commission pursuant to subsection A of § 38.2-5021, in themanner required by the plan of operation. Liability insurance for thepurposes of this provision shall include the classes of insurance defined in§§ 38.2-117, 38.2-118, and 38.2-119 and the liability portions of theinsurance defined in §§ 38.2-124, 38.2-125, 38.2-130, 38.2-131, and 38.2-132.
1. All annual assessments against liability insurance carriers shall be madeon the basis of net direct premiums written for the business activity whichforms the basis for each such entity's inclusion as a funding source for theProgram in the Commonwealth during the prior year ending December 31, asreported to the State Corporation Commission, and shall be in the proportionthat the net direct premiums written by each on account of the businessactivity forming the basis for their inclusion in the Program bears to theaggregate net direct premiums for all such business activity written in thisCommonwealth by all such entities. For purposes of this chapter "net directpremiums written" means gross direct premiums written in this Commonwealthon all policies of liability insurance less (i) all return premiums on thepolicy, (ii) dividends paid or credited to policyholders, and (iii) theunused or unabsorbed portions of premium deposits on liability insurance.
2. The entities listed in this subsection shall not be individually liablefor an annual assessment in excess of one quarter of one percent of thatentity's net direct premiums written.
3. Liability insurance carriers shall be entitled to recover their initialand annual assessments through (i) a surcharge on future policies, (ii) arate increase applicable prospectively, or (iii) a combination of the two, atthe discretion of the State Corporation Commission.
F. On and after January 1, 1989, a participating physician covered under theprovisions of this section who has paid an annual assessment for a particularcalendar year to the Program and who retires from the practice of medicineduring that particular calendar year shall be entitled to a refund of aprorated share of his or her annual assessment for the calendar year thatcorresponds to the portion of the calendar year remaining following his orher retirement.
G. Whenever the State Corporation Commission determines the Fund isactuarially sound in conjunction with actuarial investigations conductedpursuant to § 38.2-5021, it shall enter an order suspending the assessmentrequired under subsection D. The annual assessment shall be reinstatedwhenever the State Corporation Commission determines that such assessment isrequired to maintain the Fund's actuarial soundness.
(1987, c. 540; 1989, cc. 361, 463, 523; 1990, c. 498; 1991, c. 486; 1992, cc.414, 767; 1994, c. 872; 2004, cc. 896, 931; 2008, cc. 267, 520.)