State Telehealth Activity
Lake County News: Legislature Approves Extending Telehealth Service Flexibilities for a Year Post COVID-19 Pandemic (7/30) – The California legislature passed Assembly Bill 32, which seeks to expand health care accessibility via telehealth and extend the telehealth flexibilities put in place at the start of the pandemic for one more year for Medi-Cal patients. Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry, one of the initial sponsors of the bill, commented that while this is an important step forward for extending telehealth services in the state, more needs to be done to implement a permanent solution to lock in flexibilities across modalities, collect data to ensure quality health outcomes, and expand such services to commercial providers.
mHealth Intelligence: North Carolina Gives Dentists, Hygienists More Leeway to Use Telehealth (7/28) – North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed Senate Bill 146 into law, which will allow North Carolina dentists to offer telehealth services. The bill will set standards for the practice of teledentistry in the state and will allow dentists to use certain connected health platforms. The bill will also give dental hygienists the ability to work in remote locations like federally qualified health centers and community health clinics while being virtually supervised by a dentist.
Foley & Lardner LLP: United States: Florida Board of Medicine to Reconsider Telemedicine Weight Loss Rule (7/27) – The Florida Board of Medicine is planning to hold a rule development workshop to discuss updating the provisions of its rule for prescribing obesity drugs. The rule includes an in-person requirement for an exam within two to four weeks of receiving a prescription, order, or dosage of a weight loss enhancer, which has limited the use of telemedicine in the state for clinical weight loss treatment. The decision to revisit this rule follows the enactment of a sweeping telehealth legislation in 2019 in Florida, which transformed clinicians’ ability to use virtual care services when treating patients.
JD Supra: Georgia Legislative Update – Telehealth and Other Health Care Developments (7/27) – The Georgia General Assembly recently concluded its 2021 legislative session, passing a number of health care-related bills that will affect providers across the state. This included legislation related to telehealth, such as the Georgia Telehealth Act and other provisions in various health care bills. The Georgia Telehealth Act will widen the availability of telehealth services to residents in the state, through authorizing health care providers to provide telehealth services from home, authorizing patients to receive services from their home, work or school, approving audio-only care in certain circumstances, eliminating the in-person requirement prior to receiving telehealth services, eliminating the requirements to use a specific platform for telehealth, and banning separate deductibles for telehealth services.
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