​​Date:             October 15, 2026 

To:                  Insurers, Nonprofit Health Service Plans, Health Maintenance Organizations, and Dental Plan Organizations (“Carriers") 

Re:                 Uniform Continuity of Care Request Form

The purpose of this Bulletin is to notify carriers of the adoption of the uniform continuity of care request form described in § 15-112(y)(4) of the Insurance Article. 

House Bill 684, Chapter 651, Acts of 2026 requires the Maryland Insurance Commissioner (“Commissioner") to develop a uniform form that carriers, providers, and health systems must use for certain requests from patients to continue to receive health care services from a health care provider whose network participation with a carrier has been terminated.  See § 15-112(y)(4) of the Insurance Article. The uniform continuity of care form must be used for all requests made in accordance with § 15-112(b) of the Insurance Article or 42 U.S.C. § 300gg–113. 

This includes requests for transitional care from the patient's primary care provider, including a provider of primary dental care services, or from any provider of behavioral health care services for whom the carrier has received a claim for services performed on the patient within the three months immediately preceding the date of termination. This also includes requests for transitional care for an individual who is a continuing care patient of a provider or facility at the time of network termination.  “Continuing care patient" is defined in 42 U.S.C. § 300gg–113(b)(1) as an individual who, with respect to a provider or facility:

​​(A) is undergoing a course of treatment for a serious and complex condition from the provider or facility;

(B) is undergoing a course of institutional or inpatient care from the provider or facility;

(C) is scheduled to undergo nonelective surgery from the provider, including receipt of postoperative care from such provider or facility with respect to such a surgery;

(D) is pregnant and undergoing a course of treatment for the pregnancy from the provider or facility; or

(E) is or was determined to be terminally ill and is receiving treatment for such illness from such provider or facility. 

The Commissioner released a draft continuity of care request form on August 4, 2026 and accepted public comments for a period of 30 days. After considering the public comments and making necessary revisions to the draft form, the Commissioner has adopted the attached form as the uniform continuity of care request form. Carriers, providers, and health systems are required to use the attached Continuity of Care Request Form for all requests to continue to receive health care services in accordance with § 15-112(b) or 42 U.S.C. § 300gg-113.​ A carrier may convert the Continuity of Care Request Form into any electronically equivalent format that contains all the instructions and information included in the required template form.  The language included in each field of the Continuity of Care Request form must be included verbatim in the electronic equivalent of the physical form. 

Applicability to Stand-Alone Dental Products

Unless a particular subsection expressly states otherwise, the provisions of § 15-112 of the Insurance Article are generally applicable to stand-alone dental products that use a provider panel. Subsections (b) and (y)(4) of § 15-112 do not exempt stand-alone dental products, and, therefore, the requirement to use the uniform continuity of care request form is applicable to a carrier offering a stand-alone dental product that uses a provider panel. However, the circumstances when a dental carrier must use the uniform continuity of care request form are limited. The provider panel for a stand-alone dental product would not include providers of behavioral health care services, and 42 U.S.C. § 300gg-113 is not applicable to stand-alone dental insurance, and consequently, a carrier offering a stand-alone dental product that uses a provider panel is only required to use the uniform continuity of care request form when a patient is requesting transitional care from a primary dental care provider. A stand-alone dental carrier may, but is not required to, use the uniform form for requests for transitional care from a specialty dental care provider. 

Questions about this Bulletin may be directed to the Life/Health Section of the Maryland Insurance Administration at 410-468-2170.

MARIE GRANT
Commissioner

By:

Megan Mason
Associate Commissioner, Life and Health