Your Rights


You have the right to:

  • Be treated with respect and in a dignified way.
  • Get written information from First Medical in English and Spanish. You also have the right to receive any written information in other languages or other alternative formats. After you inform First Medical, you have the right to receive all written information in the same format or language, unless you indicate otherwise to First Medical.
  • Get information about First Medical, health care facilities, health care professionals, health services covered, and how to access services.
  • Choose a Primary Medical Group, your PCP, and other doctors and providers within your Preferred Provider Network.
  • Choose a dentist and a pharmacy among First Medical’s network.
  • Contact your doctors when you want to and in private.
  • Get proper medical care for you, when you need it. This includes getting emergency services, twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week.
  • Be told in an easy-to-understand way about your care and all of the different kinds of treatment that could work for you, no matter what they cost or even if they aren’t covered.
  • Help to make decisions about your health care. You can turn down care.
  • Ask for a second opinion for a diagnosis or treatment plan.
  • Make an Advanced Directive. Look at Part 6 of your Enrollee Handbook for more information.
  • Get care without fear of physical restraint or seclusion used for bullying, discipline, convenience or revenge.
  • Ask for and get information about your medical records as the federal and state laws say. You can see your medical records, get copies of your medical records, and ask to correct your medical records if they are wrong.
  • File a complaint or an appeal about the medical care or First Medical services. Look at Part 7 of your Enrollee Handbook for more information. The complaint can be filed in First Medical’s office or in the Patience Advocate Office.
  • Get services without being treated in a different way because of race, color, birthplace, language, sex, age, religion, or disability. You have a right to file a complaint if you think you have been treated unfairly. If you file a complaint or appeal, you have the right to keep getting care without fear of bad treatment from First Medical, your providers, or Vital.
  • Choose an Authorized Representative to be involved in making decisions.
  • Provide informed consent.
  • Only have to pay the amounts for services listed in Part 4 of your Enrollee Handbook. You can’t be charged more than those amounts.
  • Be free from harassment by First Medical or its Providers Network with respect to contractual disputes between First Medical and its Providers.