HEALTHSELECT OF TEXAS (OUT-OF-STATE BENEFITS) PLAN
147 SECTION 13 – GLOSSARY
Medical Social Services – those social services relating to the treatment of a Participant’s
medical condition. Such services include, but are not limited to:
• assessment of the social and emotional factors related to the Participant’s medical condition,
need for care, response to treatment and adjustment to care; and
• assessment of the relationship of the Participant’s medical and nursing requirements to the
home situation, financial resources, and available community resources.
Medical Supplies - expendable items required for care related to a Sickness or Injury. Not all
Medical Supplies are Covered Health Services under the Plan. See Medical Supplies in Section
6, Details for Covered Health Services and Medical Supplies and Equipment in Section 7,
Exclusions, for a description.
Medically Necessary, Medical Necessity – health care services provided for the purpose of
preventing, evaluating, diagnosing or treating a Sickness, Injury, Mental Illness, substance-
related and addictive disorder, Serious Mental Illness, or disease (and symptoms), that are all of
the following as determined by the Plan. The health care services must be:
• performed in accordance with Generally Accepted Standards of Medical Practice;
• clinically appropriate, in terms of type, frequency, extent, site and duration, and considered
effective for your Sickness, Injury, Mental Illness, substance-related and addictive disorder,
Serious Mental Illness, or disease (and symptoms);
• not primarily performed for your comfort or convenience or that of your health care Provider;
and
• not more costly than an alternative drug, service(s) or supply that is at least as likely to
produce equivalent therapeutic or diagnostic results as alternatives with respect to the
diagnosis or treatment of your Sickness, Injury, Mental Illness, substance-related and
addictive disorder, Serious Mental Illness, or disease (and symptoms).
Generally Accepted Standards of Medical Practice are standards that are based on credible
scientific evidence published in peer-reviewed medical literature generally recognized by the
relevant medical community, relying primarily on controlled Clinical Trials, or, if not available,
observational studies from more than one institution that suggest a causal relationship between
the health care services and positive health outcomes.
If no credible scientific evidence is available, then standards based on Physician specialty society
recommendations or professional standards of care may be considered. The Plan reserves the
right to consult expert opinion in determining whether health care services are Medically
Necessary. The decision to apply Physician specialty society recommendations, the choice of
expert and the determination of when to use any such expert opinion, shall be within the Plan's
sole discretion.
BCBSTX develops and maintains clinical policies that describe the Generally Accepted Standards
of Medical Practice scientific evidence, prevailing medical standards and clinical guidelines
supporting its determinations regarding specific health services. These clinical policies (as
developed by BCBSTX and revised from time to time), are available to Participants at
www.bcbstx.com
or by calling BCBSTX at (800) 252-8039 (TTY: 711), and to Physicians and
other health care professionals at www.bcbstx.com.
The authority of the Plan to determine Medical Necessity is subject to the right of the Employees
Retirement System of Texas Board of Trustees to order payment of a claim even though
BCBSTX has not abused its discretion in denying the claim.
Medicare – Parts A, B, C and D of the insurance program for Americans 65 years of age and
over as well as younger Americans with certain disabilities, established by Title XVIII, United
States Social Security Act, as amended by 42 U.S.C. Sections 1394, et seq. and as later
amended.