Congress is reconsidering a nationwide telehealth coverage bill, named the Medicare Telehealth Parity Act of 2017, designed to introduce an incremental, though significant, expansion of coverage for telehealth services under...more
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin recently signed into law SB 726, establishing new telemedicine practice standards, including explicitly allowing doctors to create valid physician-patient relationships via telemedicine without...more
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, recently signed into law SB 213, clarifying that health professionals in Michigan may prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine without an in-person examination. The law reverses a 2016...more
The Legislation implementing the medical marijuana amendment Florida voters approved last fall is on its way to the Governor. On June 9, 2017, during a special session, the Florida Legislature passed SB 8A and SB 6A,...more
Following a special session, the Florida Legislature on June 9, 2017 passed two important bills regarding medical marijuana in the Sunshine State: SB 8A and SB 6A. Together, these bills implement Article X, section 29 of the...more
On August 4, 2017, the Florida Board of Medicine will hold a third public hearing to discuss its proposed amendment to Florida’s telemedicine practice rules regarding medical marijuana. The Board held two prior public...more
On May 12, 2017, the Texas State Legislature passed SB 1107, a law expanding the use of telemedicine in the Lone Star State. The bill is now on its way to Governor Abbot’s desk where he is expected to sign it into law....more
The Ohio Medical Board just last week adopted new rules for telemedicine prescribing of drugs and controlled substances, allowing providers to prescribe drugs via telemedicine without conducting an in-person examination....more
The Florida Board of Medicine will hold a public hearing on February 3, 2017 to discuss its proposed amendment to Florida’s telemedicine practice rules. The proposed amendment, published December 8, 2016, is intended to...more
The Florida Board of Medicine issued a proposed amendment, on December 8, 2016, to its telemedicine regulations to clarify that physicians may not order medical cannabis or low-THC cannabis via telemedicine....more
The Arkansas State Medical Board on Thursday voted unanimously to pass Regulation 38 establishing key definitions for telemedicine practice in the State. The new regulation imposes specific Board of Medicine requirements for...more
The Arkansas Legislative Council’s Rules and Regulations Subcommittee approved, on August 16, 2016, proposed regulations which, if accepted by the Arkansas Legislative Council, will remove some restrictions on telemedicine...more
South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley signed the South Carolina Telemedicine Act (S.B. 1035) into law, on June 3, 2016, establishing new telemedicine practice standards in the Palmetto State. Prior to the Act, the controlling...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for CY 2017 on July 7, 2016. In it, CMS would require practitioners to use a new place of service (POS) code to...more
Rhode Island marks the 31st state to enact a telemedicine commercial reimbursement statute. The Telemedicine Coverage Act (HB 7160B) was signed into law by Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo on June 28, 2016, representing a...more
Alaska Governor Bill Walker signed SB 74 into law on June 21, 2016, expanding the use of telemedicine in the Last Frontier state. Specifically, SB 74 removes Alaska’s previous in-state presence requirements for prescribing...more
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill (S.B. 1363) into law, on May 17, 2016, requiring private health plans to pay for telemedicine services across the whole state rather than only services received in rural areas of the...more
Arkansas was ranked last among all states in a recent report by the American Telemedicine Association on telemedicine practice standards. Earlier this year, we reported on the Arkansas Board of Medicine’s plans to remedy its...more
Virginia has made strides to expand the telehealth offerings available to its residents and the Old Dominion took another step forward advancing telemedicine when it enacted a bill amending Virginia Code § 38.2-3418.16 to...more
4/14/2016
/ Controlled Substances ,
Data Security ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Electronic Prescribing ,
Health Care Providers ,
Informed Consent ,
Licensing Rules ,
New Legislation ,
Physicians ,
State Medical Board ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
The District of Columbia Department of Health recently issued proposed rules that, if enacted, would constitute the first regulations on telemedicine practice standards in the nation’s capital. Other than a 2014 policy...more