(a)  Every group health insurance contract, plan, or group policy delivered, issued for delivery or renewed in this state which provides medical coverage, and every group policy which provides for treatment of persons for the prevention, cure or correction of any illness or physical or mental condition, shall provide, as an optional rider, coverage for the services of a doctor of acupuncture as a provider of acupuncture services.

(b)  For the purposes of this section:

(1)  “Doctor of acupuncture” means a practitioner licensed under chapter 37.2 of Title 5.

(2)  “Coverage for the services of a doctor of acupuncture as a provider of acupuncture services” means coverage for acupuncture as defined in § 5-37.2-2(1).

(c)  It remains within the sole discretion of the non-profit hospital service corporation as to which doctor of acupuncture it shall contract with. Reimbursement is provided according to the respective principles and policies of the non-profit hospital service corporation; provided, that no non-profit hospital service corporation is required to pay for duplicative services actually rendered by a doctor of acupuncture and any other health care provider. Nothing contained in this section precludes the non-profit hospital service corporations from conducting managed care, medical necessity or utilization review.