bigitrends A participating provider is a medical provider who has signed a contract with a health insurance company or health insurance network to charge pre-determined rates to patients who are in the network. A nonparticipating provider is a medical provider who does not have a contract with a particular health insurance company or network. If you use a nonparticipating provider, you will generally pay a larger portion of the bill. In some cases, you may be responsible for the entire bill. These are not considered to be comprehensive medical insurance plans. Instead, they provide very specific, limited benefits for different types of services. For example, they may provide a flat rate for each day you stay in the hospital or pay a limited amount for each surgical procedure that you have.