External review in Alaska: deadline, cost and how to ask
Alaska runs its own independent review of denials: External Review. You generally have 180 days to ask for it.
External review means a doctor or reviewer outside your plan decides again. Internal appeal means your plan looks at its own decision again.
Checked against official sources: October 30, 2026.
Appeal deadlines are strict. If you are near a deadline or your care is urgent, call free help today.
Step 2: Outside review in Alaska
- Program
External Review
- Who runs it
- Director of the Alaska Division of Insurance, who assigns an approved independent review organization by rotation: Health care insurers transacting health care insurance in Alaska. Not for Medicare, Medicaid, FEHBP, TRICARE, workers' compensation, Medicare supplement or limited-benefit policies.
- Deadline to ask
180 days
You have 180 days to send your request to the Director of the Division of Insurance. The Director will extend the 180 days if you ask in writing and give a fair and reasonable reason; you can ask for the extension even after the 180 days.
- The deadline runs from
The date you receive the notice of the adverse determination or final adverse determination (or the end of 30 days with no grievance decision, or the date the insurer agrees to waive the grievance step)
- Do I have to appeal to my plan first?
Usually you must finish the insurer's grievance process first. You are treated as having finished it if the insurer has not given you a written decision within 30 days after you filed (unless you agreed to a delay), or if the insurer did not follow the grievance rules (other than a minor violation). You can skip it if the insurer agrees to waive it, or ask for expedited external review at the same time as an expedited grievance if waiting would seriously jeopardize your life, health or ability to regain maximum function, or for an experimental-treatment denial your doctor certifies is urgent. Denials of care already received must go through the grievance process first.
- When you can go without a plan answer
30 days after you file your internal appeal
- Cost
There is no charge for asking for external review. The insurer pays the independent review organization.
- What can be reviewed
Adverse determinations and final adverse determinations by your insurer, including denials of treatment as experimental or investigational. The insurer first checks eligibility; the Director can overrule an insurer that says your request is not eligible.
- Is the decision final?
The decision is binding on the insurer, except for other remedies it has under state law, and on you, except for other remedies you have under federal or state law. You cannot ask for a second external review of the same denial.
- How to ask
Send a written request to the Director of the Division of Insurance by mail, email or fax, with a copy of the insurer's written denial notice. For expedited review you can call the Division. Your insurer must send you its external review forms and a medical records release with the denial notice. After the reviewer is assigned, you have 5 working days to send it more information.
Law: 3 AAC 28.950-28.982 (esp. 28.954, 28.956, 28.958, 28.960, 28.962, 28.966, 28.980)
- Phone
907-269-7900 (Anchorage) or 907-465-2515 (Juneau); email insurance@alaska.gov
Write my appeal: free letters
Sources
The official sources for Alaska are listed on the Alaska page.