EUO – OBJECTIVE GOOD FAITH JUSTIFICATION FOR THE EUO MUST BE “SUBSTANTIVE”

EUO – OBJECTIVE GOOD FAITH JUSTIFICATION FOR THE EUO MUST BE “SUBSTANTIVE”

American Chiropractic Care, P.C. v. Geico, 57 Misc3d 529 (2017)

The relevant dicta is as follows:

In an action for no-fault benefits, defendant insurer was obligated to demonstrate a good faith basis for the examination under oath (EUO) of plaintiff medical provider in response to plaintiff’s timely objection and request. While the Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Insurance Reparations Act (Insurance Law § 5101 et seq.) and the no-fault regulations (11 NYCRR 65-1.1 et seq.) provide the no-fault insurer with the right to require an EUO of providers of medical services or supplies, the right is not automatic as it is for an assignor. A balance must be struck between the policy of rooting out and preventing fraud, and not unnecessarily disrupting the practice of a medical professional. The burden on the insurer to make some prima facie showing of good faith is far less than the burden that would be imposed on a provider to appear for examination. Further, requiring the insurer to provide a substantive response would allow the provider to make an intelligent decision whether to appear for the EUO and to be adequately prepared so that the examination may be expeditiously concluded. The requirement that insurer standards for scheduling EUOs be available for review by the Insurance Department did not relieve defendant from the need to respond to plaintiff’s timely request. That requirement does not provide that Insurance Department oversight is in lieu of or preempts a provider’s right to timely seek an explanation for the EUO.

The Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Insurance Reparations Act (Insurance Law § 5101 et seq.) and the no-fault regulations (11 NYCRR 65-1.1 et seq.) provide the no-fault insurer with the right to require an EUO of the assignor of the claim, as well as the provider of medical services or supplies. While the right to an EUO of an assignor, that is, an individual who suffered injury as the result of an automobile accident, is virtually automatic, the EUO of a provider stands on different grounds. The reason for this is that there is obvious potential to abuse the EUO of a provider, typically a medical doctor or chiropractor, although it may also be a provider of durable medical *532 equipment. The claims at issue in no-fault cases are ordinarily no more than a few thousand dollars, and frequently less than even $1,000. To require a doctor to leave his or her practice for at least half a day, between the time to travel to and from an EUO, and the time actually spent under examination, will often result in a loss of income to the doctor disproportionate to, if not in excess of, the amount of the claim, although here GEICO specifically offered to reimburse American for lost earnings and transportation expenses, as required by the regulations. Equally important, an EUO takes the doctor away from time that would otherwise be spent providing health care to patients. (In this regard, there is no provision to reimburse the provider for the time spent in preparation for the examination, including that necessary to compile and review the numerous documents requested by GEICO in advance of the EUO.) The public interest requires that such disruption of medical professionals not be undertaken lightly or on the proverbial fishing expedition in the hope that some basis, perhaps the provider’s nonappearance, may be developed to deny an otherwise legitimate claim.

A substantive response will allow the provider, with the advice of counsel, to make an intelligent decision whether to appear for the EUO and to be adequately prepared so that the examination may be expeditiously concluded. The good faith, or lack thereof, would be established by the insurer’s substantive response. A provider who fails to appear **5 for its properly noticed EUO, as to which a substantive response was made to any timely objection, would be subject to summary dismissal of its case. And, as the statute and regulations only require a good faith application of objective standards, it would be extremely difficult, at the least, for the provider to challenge a substantive explanation by the insurer for the EUO, so long as that explanation was made in good faith.

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