SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2020 SESSION

  • | print version

HB 1332 Telehealth services; definitions, report.

Introduced by: Terry G. Kilgore | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles | history

SUMMARY AS PASSED:

Statewide Telehealth Plan. Directs the Board of Health to develop and implement, by January 1, 2021, and thereafter maintain as a component of the State Health Plan a Statewide Telehealth Plan (the Plan) to promote an integrated approach to the introduction and use of telehealth services and telemedicine services, as those terms are defined in the bill. The bill requires the Plan to include, among other provisions, provisions for (i) the use of remote patient monitoring services and store-and-forward technologies, including in cases involving patients with chronic illness; (ii) the promotion of the inclusion of telehealth services in hospitals, schools, and state agencies; and (iii) a strategy for the collection of data regarding the use of telehealth services.

SUMMARY AS PASSED HOUSE:

Telehealth services. Directs the Board of Health to develop and implement, by July 1, 2022, and thereafter maintain as a component of the State Health Plan a Statewide Telehealth Plan to promote an integrated approach to the introduction and use of telehealth services and telemedicine services,, as those terms are defined in the bill. The bill requires the Statewide Telehealth Plan to promote (i) the use of remote patient monitoring services and store-and-forward technologies, including in cases involving patients with chronic illness; (ii) the leveraging of telehealth and telemedicine technologies to streamline general practice and nonemergency triage services; (iii) rapid patient access to emergency medicine providers through telehealth services and telemedicine services; and (iv) such other telehealth services and telemedicine services and technologies as the Board of Health deems appropriate. The bill also requires the Board of Medical Assistance Services to amend the state plan for medical assistance to include a provision for payment of medical assistance for (a) emergency medical services delivered through telehealth services or telemedicine services provided pursuant to the Statewide Telehealth Plan, in the home of the person to whom services are provided, in any public or private primary or secondary school or postsecondary institution of higher education at which the person to whom services are provided is located, and at the location where the patient received prehospital, interhospital, or emergency medical services in conjunction with appropriate emergency medical, medical, or long-term care providers included as originating sites for such telehealth services or telemedicine services and (b) medically necessary health care services provided through remote patient monitoring services for priority populations as determined by the Director of Medical Assistance Services, with the home as an eligible originating site, as permitted by state law.

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Telehealth services. Defines "telehealth services" as the delivery of health care services, including telemedicine services and other medical, emergency medical, and behavioral health services that are not equivalent to health care services provided through face-to-face consultation or contact between a health care provider and a patient, through the use of telecommunications and information technology that supports the delivery of remote or long-distance health care services. The bill requires the Board of Medical Assistance Services to include in the state plan for medical assistance services a provision for coverage of telehealth services. The bill also requires (i) requires the Board of Health to develop and maintain an Emergency Telehealth Plan as a component of the Statewide Emergency Medical Services Plan, (ii) every insurer proposing to issue individual or group accident and sickness insurance policies providing hospital, medical and surgical, or major medical coverage on an expense-incurred basis; (iii) each corporation providing individual or group accident and sickness subscription contracts; and (iv) each health maintenance organization providing a health care plan for health care services to provide coverage for the cost of such health care services provided through telehealth services.  

The bill also requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to establish a workgroup to develop recommendations for  innovative payment models that support the use of telehealth services and telemedicine services in accordance with the Statewide Emergency Telehealth Plan including payment of the cost of transporting of a patient to a destination providing services appropriate to the patient’s level of acuity and in-place treatment of a patient at the scene of an emergency response or vial telehealth services or telemedicine services where appropriate, and appropriate liability protections for health care providers providing services through telehealth services and telemedicine services. The workgroup shall report its recommendations to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committees on Education and Health and Finance by November 1, 2020.