State Telehealth Activity
mHealth Intelligence: (6/3) – Illinois lawmakers passed a bill which expands telehealth access and coverage across the state, and includes provisions that would establish payment parity for behavioral health and substance abuse services and create a panel to study payment parity for all telehealth services. House Bill 3308 would also make permanent several emergency actions taken during the pandemic to boost connected health for patients, such as eliminating geographic barriers to telehealth delivery, expanding the use of remote patient monitoring, asynchronous telehealth and audio-only services, and expanding the list of health care providers that are allowed to practice telehealth.
State of Reform: (6/2) - Florida legislators Tom Fabricio and Mike Beltran, who serve on the House Finance and Facilities Subcommittee, played a role in building out telehealth infrastructure in the state during the pandemic. Rep. Fabricio campaigned on increasing telehealth access prior to his being elected in 2020, and he focused on this throughout the 2021 legislative session. Efforts included filing a bill that would allow physicians to prescribe schedule III, IV, and V substances through telehealth visits. While this bill eventually died in the Senate, Rep. Fabricio plans to introduced the bill again next legislative session.
Inside Health Policy: (6/2) – As Congress continues to explore which telehealth flexibilities to make permanent post-pandemic, state action on telehealth policy could provide a roadmap for Congress to craft nationwide post-pandemic telehealth legislation. State legislatures have passed several bills that will shape telehealth’s future, focusing on themes including how to regulate telehealth coverage and payment parity for commercial payers, how to reimburse telehealth through Medicaid, allowing out-of-state physicians to practice telemedicine in the state with a waiver, and eliminating geographic and originating site restrictions, among other areas. States have also taken action on coverage and payment for audio-only telehealth, expanding definitions of telehealth to include this modality post-pandemic.
Boston Herald: (6/2) – A new report by the Pioneer Institute found that flexibility for patients and doctors, including telehealth accommodations, that were made in response to COVID-19 should remain in place in Massachusetts post-pandemic. The state of emergency in Massachusetts is set to expire on June 15, and with that so will the health care flexibilities enacted during the pandemic. As widespread access to telehealth from providers outside the state benefited patients during the pandemic, one of the report authors recommended having doctors register with the appropriate board, provide basic information about their license, and pay a fee to serve patients via telehealth, similar to a process used in Minnesota.
mHealth Intelligence: (6/1) – The Texas legislature passed legislation to give the state’s Medicaid program and other public health plans more leeway to cover telehealth and allow audio-only telehealth services in some instances. House Bill 4, which passed the House and Senate unanimously, would make permanent some of the emergency measures put in place during the pandemic. The bill would also open the door for Medicaid and public health plans to use connected health platforms for preventive health and wellness screening, case management services, physical, occupational and speech therapy, nutritional counseling, and assessments and behavioral health services, including those delivered by audio-only telehealth if deemed appropriate. Governor Abbott, who called for permanent expansion of telehealth access and coverage in his 2021 State of the State Address, is now considering the bill.
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