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Trending in Telehealth: May 23 – 30, 2023

Trending in Telehealth is a series from the McDermott digital health team in which we highlight state legislative and regulatory developments that impact healthcare providers, telehealth and digital health companies, pharmacists, and technology companies that deliver and facilitate virtual care.
Trending in the past week:

  • Forensic Examinations
  • Telehealth Flexibilities

A CLOSER LOOK
Finalized Legislation and Rulemaking

  • Florida passed legislation (SB 218) amending Fla. Stat. Ann. § 456.47 to revise the definition of “telehealth provider” to include persons licensed as genetic counselors. By way of background, in 2021, the Florida legislature created a new licensed and regulated profession—genetic counseling. SB 218 is likely one of several pieces of legislation that will incorporate the newly created profession into existing regulatory frameworks.
  • Minnesota enacted legislation (SF 2744) allowing telehealth to factor into the network adequacy assessments required to be performed by health carriers under Minnesota’s insurance laws. Minnesota also enacted appropriations legislation (SF 2995) that, among other things, allocates money for a study of telehealth expansion and payment parity in 2024.
  • Nevada passed legislation (AB 276) amending Nev. Rev. Stat. § 629.515 to authorize a provider who is conducting certain forensic medical examinations on an apparent victim of sexual assault or strangulation to use telehealth to connect to an appropriately trained physician, physician assistant or registered nurse to obtain instructions and guidance on conducting the examination.
  • West Virginia’s legislation requiring hospitals to have a trained healthcare provider available, or transfer agreement as provided in a county plan, to complete a sexual assault forensic examination (SB 89) became effective May 21, 2023, 90 days after its passage. “Available” includes having access to a trained sexual assault forensic examination expert via telehealth.

Legislation and Rulemaking Activity in Proposal Phase
Highlights:

  • Illinois progressed legislation (SB 2123) in the second chamber that would adopt the Counseling Compact.
  • Texas continued to progress legislation (HB 1771) in the second chamber that would require that each agency with regulatory authority over a health professional providing a telemedicine medical service, teledentistry or telehealth to adopt rules necessary to standardize formats for and retention of records related to a patient’s consent to treatment, data collection and data sharing.
  • Texas also progressed legislation (HB 617) in the second chamber that would establish a pilot project to provide emergency medical services instruction and emergency prehospital care instruction through a telemedicine medical service or telehealth service provided by regional trauma resource centers to healthcare providers in rural trauma facilities and emergency medical services providers in rural areas.

Why it matters:

  • Telehealth capabilities can reduce disparities in forensic examinations. States continue to progress legislation aiming to decrease disparities in the quality of forensic examinations by providing expert, live, interactive quality control and evidence-based methodologies to less experienced providers. Proponents argue that partnering on-site staff with telehealth [...]

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Trending in Telehealth: May 2– 8, 2023

Trending in Telehealth is a series from the McDermott digital health team in which we highlight state legislative and regulatory developments that impact healthcare providers, telehealth and digital health companies, pharmacists and technology companies that deliver and facilitate virtual care.

Trending in the past week:

  • Maternal Health
  • Licensure/Prescription Flexibilities
  • Interstate Compacts

A CLOSER LOOK

Finalized Legislation & Rulemaking
Highlights:

  • Georgia enacted SB 106 also known as the Healthy Babies Act. The legislation, sponsored by Senate Majority Caucus Senator Larry Walker III, creates a three-year pilot program for remote maternal health services via the Georgia Department of Community Health. Beginning in FY 2024, the program will provide remote monitoring for pregnant women under the state’s Medicaid program. State legislators prioritized this bill in an effort to increase benefits for at-risk mothers in underserved rural communities. The program’s expanded benefits aim to encourage expecting mothers to utilize prenatal care.
  • Montana enacted legislation, SB 112, creating a new section related to a pharmacist’s prescribing authority exception. The exception states that a pharmacist may prescribe a drug or device for a legitimate medical purpose, as allowed under this section, for a person with whom the pharmacist has a patient-prescriber relationship. Supporters of the bill cited access-to-care hurdles for rural communities that could otherwise be overcome by allowing pharmacists to serve as a point of first contact. The bill, modeled after similar legislation passed in Idaho, will allow patients to be treated for certain minor conditions without having to visit a doctor’s office. Montana also enacted legislation (SB 214) to enact the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Compact and Occupational Therapy Compact (SB 155).
  • Oklahoma enacted legislation, SB 754, authorizing licensed dentists to allow teledentistry treatment by certain dental hygienists for patients in certain long-term care settings.

Legislation Rulemaking Activity in Proposal Phase
Highlights:

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Trending in Telehealth: April 11 – 17, 2023

Trending in Telehealth is a series from the McDermott digital health team in which we highlight state legislative and regulatory developments that impact healthcare providers, telehealth and digital health companies, pharmacists and technology companies that deliver and facilitate virtual care.

Trending in the past week:

  • Interstate Compacts
  • Telehealth Coverage and Reimbursement
  • Informed Consent Standards

A CLOSER LOOK

Finalized Legislation & Rulemaking

  • In North Dakota, HB 1095 was enacted. The legislation requires health carriers to, in part, provide coverage for licensed pharmacists to provide comprehensive medication management, which may be provided via telehealth. North Dakota also enacted HB 1530, which requires that Medicaid cover asynchronous teledentistry.
  • Florida enacted SB 300. The legislation prohibits physicians from using telehealth to provide abortions or prescribe abortion-inducing medication. It also requires the physical in-person presence of a physician with a patient when an abortion is performed or when abortion-inducing medication is dispensed.

Legislation & Rulemaking Activity in Proposal Phase

Highlights:

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