After-Hours Access is Required

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) requires that Primary Care Physicians and Specialty Care Physicians and other Professional Providers provide urgent care & emergency care or coverage for care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They must have a verifiable mechanism in place, for immediate response, for directing patients to alternative after hours care based on the urgency of the patient's need. 

Acceptable after-hours access mechanisms may include:

• an answering service that offers to call or page the physician or on-call physician; 
• a recorded message that directs the patient to call the answering service and the phone number is provided; or
• a recorded message that directs the patient to call or page the physician or on-call physician and the phone number is provided.

For more detail, please refer to the BlueChoice^® Physician and Other Professional Provider Manual (Section B) and the HMO Blue^® Texas Physician and Other Professional Provider Manual (Section B), available on the BCBSTX website at bcbstx.com/provider.  Click on the "Education & Reference" tab, then click on "Manuals" and enter the password.