§ 5109. Unauthorized providers of health services. (a) The
superintendent, in consultation with the commissioner of health and the
commissioner of education, shall by regulation, promulgate standards and
procedures for investigating and suspending or removing the
authorization for providers of health services to demand or request
payment for health services as specified in paragraph one of subsection
(a) of section five thousand one hundred two of this article upon
findings reached after investigation pursuant to this section. Such
regulations shall ensure the same or greater due process provisions,
including notice and opportunity to be heard, as those afforded
physicians investigated under article two of the workers' compensation
law and shall include provision for notice to all providers of health
services of the provisions of this section and regulations promulgated
thereunder at least ninety days in advance of the effective date of such
regulations.

(b) The commissioner of health and the commissioner of education shall
provide a list of the names of all providers of health services who the
commissioner of health and the commissioner of education shall deem,
after reasonable investigation, not authorized to demand or request any
payment for medical services in connection with any claim under this
article because such provider of health services:

(1) has been guilty of professional or other misconduct or
incompetency in connection with medical services rendered under this
article; or

(2) has exceeded the limits of his or her professional competence in
rendering medical care under this article or has knowingly made a false
statement or representation as to a material fact in any medical report
made in connection with any claim under this article; or

(3) solicited, or has employed another to solicit for himself or
herself or for another, professional treatment, examination or care of
an injured person in connection with any claim under this article; or

(4) has refused to appear before, or to answer upon request of, the
commissioner of health, the superintendent, or any duly authorized
officer of the state, any legal question, or to produce any relevant
information concerning his or her conduct in connection with rendering
medical services under this article; or

(5) has engaged in patterns of billing for services which were not
provided.

(c) Providers of health services shall refrain from subsequently
treating for remuneration, as a private patient, any person seeking
medical treatment under this article if such provider pursuant to this
section has been prohibited from demanding or requesting any payment for
medical services under this article. An injured claimant so treated or
examined may raise this as a defense in any action by such provider for
payment for treatment rendered at any time after such provider has been
prohibited from demanding or requesting payment for medical services in
connection with any claim under this article.

(d) The commissioner of health and the commissioner of education shall
maintain and regularly update a database containing a list of providers
of health services prohibited by this section from demanding or
requesting any payment for health services connected to a claim under
this article and shall make such information available to the public by
means of a website and by a toll free number.

(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting in any
respect the powers and duties of the commissioner of health,
commissioner of education or the superintendent to investigate instances
of misconduct by a health care provider and, after a hearing and upon
written notice to the provider, to temporarily prohibit a provider of
health services under such investigation from demanding or requesting
any payment for medical services under this article for up to ninety
days from the date of such notice.