(1) The commissioner will assess whether an issuer's provider network access meets the requirements of WAC 284-170-200, 284-170-210, and 284-170-270 such that all health plan services to enrollees will be accessible in a timely manner appropriate for the enrollee's condition. Factors considered by the commissioner will include the following:

(a) The location of the participating providers and facilities;

(b) The location of employers or enrollees in the health plan;

(c) The range of services offered by providers and facilities for the health plan;

(d) Health plan provisions that recognize and provide for extraordinary medical needs of enrollees that cannot be adequately treated by the network's participating providers and facilities;

(e) The number of enrollees within each service area living in certain types of institutions or who have chronic, severe, or disabling medical conditions, as determined by the population the issuer is covering and the benefits provided;

(f) The availability of specific types of providers who deliver medically necessary services to enrollees under the supervision of a provider licensed under Title 18 RCW;

(g) The availability within the service area of facilities under Titles 70 and 71 RCW;

(h) Accreditation as to network access by a national accreditation organization including, but not limited to, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the Joint Commission, Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), or URAC.

(2) In determining whether an issuer has complied with the provisions of WAC 284-170-200, the commissioner will give due consideration to the relative availability of health care providers or facilities in the service area under consideration and to the standards established by state agency health care purchasers. Relative availability includes the willingness of providers or facilities in the service area to contract with the issuer under reasonable terms and conditions.

(3) If the commissioner determines that an issuer's proposed or current network for a health plan is not adequate, the commissioner may, for good cause shown, permit the issuer to propose changes sufficient to make the network adequate within a sixty-day period of time. The proposal must include a mechanism to ensure that new enrollees have access to an open primary care provider within ten business days of enrolling in the plan while the proposed changes are being implemented. This requirement is in addition to such enforcement action as is otherwise permitted under Title 48 RCW.