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Within the context of the Atlantis Health Plan delivery system, a Primary Care Physician (PCP) is a participating physician (General Practitioner, Family Practitioner, Internist, or Pediatrician) who has agreed to provide primary care services to members.

Participating physicians who assume the role of Primary Care Physicians are responsible for coordinating all of the member's health care. This function involves providing all primary care services, coordinating overall medical care and record maintenance, determining an appropriate treatment plan, authorizing referrals to specialists when necessary and providing twenty-four hour coverage.

Please note that enrollees with qualifying conditions may request a specialist as a PCP. See Page 12 for guidelines describing when referrals to a specialist to coordinate primary and specialty care are appropriate.

SELECTION OF A PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN BY THE Atlantis Health Plan MEMBER

At the time of enrollment, members are required to designate a Primary Care Physician who will be responsible for all care provided to that member. The selection of the Primary Care Physician is the member's choice and Atlantis Health Plan does not attempt to influence the member in this decision. If the member failed to select a Primary Care Physician at time of enrollment, Atlantis Health Plan will contact the member by telephone and encourage the member to make a selection.

If an individual is currently seeing one of the physicians shown on the Primary Care List, he or she may remain with that doctor. This is often the ideal introduction to the comprehensive benefits offered by Atlantis Health Plan, making the transition from alternative insurance company to Atlantis Health Plan coverage much easier for the member. More than one Primary Care Physician may serve a single family, but each member can have only one Primary Care Physician.

CHANGING A PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN

Members have the freedom to change their Primary Care Physician, provided that they choose another doctor on the Primary Care List. To change Primary Care Physicians, the member must notify the Member Services Department.

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