Practitioner Responsibilities (reminders) March 12, 2009

MHN network practitioners are responsible for complying with their contract and MHN's Practitioner Manual. Section 4 of MHN"s Practitioner Manual outlines the practitioner responsibilities, however we would like to remind you of these important items.

Emergency Contact Information

Can you be reached in an emergency?

Patients in crisis will most likely attempt to contact the practitioner overseeing their care. It is critical that practitioners provide clear instructions for patients in an emergency or crisis situation at any time their direct telephone line will not be answered by a live attendant, whether during business hours or after hours. Outgoing messages should contain information for emergencies, such as:

• Contacting 911 for emergency medical help
• Alternate sources for emergency assistance
• Practitioner pager number or another specified number
• Local crisis response teams

MHN provides emergency access to intake specialists and clinical personnel 24 hours a day, 365 days a year through a 24-hour toll-free telephone services. Although a patient may contact MHN at any time to arrange for emergency care, once they have an established relationship they may attempt to contact the practitioner prior to or instead of contacting MHN in an emergency situation. For this reason, provisions must be made to ensure the patient receives the appropriate instructions.

To provide the best service to our members, practitioners are obliged to respond in a timely manner to facilitate the prompt handling of current patients' needs as well as to expedite requests for new appointments. As a reminder, practitioners may elect to be placed on "no referral" when they are unable to accept patients for any reason by logging into the Provider Portal and clicking on "My Profile> Update Practice Information> Edit Practice Address and Contact" and indicate that you'd like to add a new no-referral period for that address.

Office Standards

As indicated in the Practitioner Manual, practitioners are expected to operate in accordance with these office standards:

• Office must be professional and secular
• Signs identifying office must be visible
• Office must be clean
• Office must be free of pets
• Office must have a separate waiting area with adequate seating
• Practitioners must see patients within 15 minutes of the scheduled appointment time
• Clean restrooms must be available
• Office environment must be physically safe
• Practitioner must have a professional and fully confidential telephone line and answering machine or voicemail greeting

Additional office standards apply to practitioners operating from a home office. Please see Section 4D for additional information.

Has your information changed?

Practitioners are contractually obligated to notify MHN 30 calendar days prior to any change impacting their availability, contact information, office or practice location, specialties, or any other demographic change impacting member referrals. These changes can be submitted electronically by logging in to the Provider Portal and clicking on "My Profile> Update Practice Information and selecting one of the following categories for updates.

• Personal demographic information
• Practice address and contact information
• Mailing addresses
• License
• Insurance information
• Education
• Clinical specialties
• Vendor information

If you need assistance with the Provider Portal, please contact us at provider.portal.support@mhn.com.