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Trending in Telehealth: August 1 – 7, 2023

Trending in Telehealth highlights state legislative and regulatory developments that impact the healthcare providers, telehealth and digital health companies, pharmacists and technology companies that deliver and facilitate the delivery of virtual care.

Trending in the past week:

  • Professional Practice Standards

A CLOSER LOOK
Finalized Legislation & Rulemaking

  • A law creating the Continuum of Care Program in Arkansas went into effect on July 31, 2023, permitting care coordination of certain reproductive health services to be conducted via telemedicine.
  • Illinois updated the Hearing Instrument Act, allowing patients 18 years or older to be evaluated for a hearing aid prescription via telehealth. Patients who are 17 years or younger still must have an in-person visit to obtain a prescription. These updates are not effective until January 1, 2024.
  • The Medical Care Program in Maryland adopted updated standards for physical therapy services provided via telehealth. This update generally aligns those requirements with broader telehealth standards in the state.
  • Massachusetts passed an emergency rule permitting mobile crisis intervention care to be provided via telehealth and still be eligible for reimbursement under government health care programs. These emergency measures went into effect on August 1, 2023, and will be made permanent pending federal approval.
  • Oklahoma revised the standards surrounding community mental health centers (CMHCs) and certified community behavioral health clinics to add telehealth encounters to the definition of “face to face” visits. This term is used to determine psychotherapy or therapy services provided by CMHCs, which provide certain assessments and emergency services throughout the community.
  • The Kentucky Board of Optometric Examiners updated telehealth standards for optometrists, including regulations permitting the provision of services by optometrists physically located outside of Kentucky, via telehealth in certain situations.
  • Kentucky also passed an emergency rule to address the shortage of social workers. Unlike optometrists, social workers must be physically located within the Commonwealth to use telehealth to care for Kentucky patients.
  • Texas passed an amendment to the physical therapy practice standards for early childhood intervention care, which permits certain previously onsite-only care to be conducted via telehealth.
  • New standards related to the use of telemedicine within the practice of occupational therapy in Wisconsin have gone into effect as of August 1, 2023. To note, the initial regulations proposed were not fully accepted, the Wisconsin Occupational Therapists Affiliated Credentialing Board adjusted the regulations after the public comments.

Legislation & Rulemaking Activity in Proposal Phase
Highlights:




Trending in Telehealth: July 25 – 31, 2023

Trending in Telehealth highlights state legislative and regulatory developments that impact the healthcare providers, telehealth and digital health companies, pharmacists and technology companies that deliver and facilitate the delivery of virtual care.

Trending in the past week:

  • Professional Practice Standards

A CLOSER LOOK

Finalized Legislation and Rulemaking

  • Nevada finalized a rule that updates its physical therapy standards. Physical therapists may now provide services via telehealth in accordance with Nevada’s general telehealth statute, Nev. Rev. Stat. § 629.515.
    Legislation and Rulemaking Activity in Proposal Phase

Highlights:

  • Texas proposed a rule that would amend Division of Workers’ Compensation regulations that set telehealth and telemedicine billing requirements for services provided to injured employees in the Texas workers’ compensation system. The proposed rule would add a definition for “teledentistry services” and would add Medicaid payment policies to the list of applicable payment policies that healthcare providers must use to bill for telemedicine, telehealth and teledentistry services.
  • West Virginia’s Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Technology Board of Examiners proposed a rule that would clarify that telehealth practice is inapplicable to the performance of medical imaging and radiation therapy. This proposed rule comes in response to W.V. Code § 30-1-26, which requires all health boards to adopt rules governing telehealth.

Why it matters:

  • States continue to refine and adopt professional practice standards for telehealth. Some states have recently adopted new or revised professional practice standards that vigorously regulate telehealth. As the latest Nevada and West Virginia rules demonstrate, regulation for certain health professions may be less robust and may simply clarify whether the profession is permitted to practice via telehealth.

Telehealth is an important development in care delivery, but the regulatory patchwork is complicated. The McDermott digital health team works alongside the industry’s leading providers, payors and technology innovators to help them enter new markets, break down barriers to delivering accessible care and mitigate enforcement risk through proactive compliance. Are you working to make healthcare more accessible through telehealth? Let us help you transform telehealth.




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