A Senate healthcare spending panel on Tuesday gave the nod to a telehealth bill but House Health and Human Services Committee Chairman state Rep. Jason Brodeur says he’s not sure the Legislature needs to address the issue.
The Senate healthcare spending panel tagged on two late filed amendments to the bill, CS/SB 478. The first amendment made clear that advanced registered nurse practitioners can use telehealth to order a controlled substance to a patient in a hospital or a hospice. The initial bill did not allow nurse practitioners to use telehealth to order controlled substances for patients. The late filed amendment was sponsored by state Sen. Denise Grimsley, who passed a bill out of committee on Monday that made clear that advanced registered nurse practitioners could order controlled substances for patients in hospitals, CS/CS/SB 532.
The second late filed amendment added behavior analysts to the lengthy list of providers who are authorized to use telemedicine.
Neither the House nor the Senate bill contain “parity” language, which would require providers to be paid the same amount for rendering telehealth services as they would for face-to-face healthcare services. The parity issue is supported by healthcare providers but opposed by the insurance industry and was a main reason the Legislature could not pass a telehealth bill last year.
While parity hasn’t been broached this year, it may not be the reason a telehealth bill doesn’t pass. The House telehealth bill, HB 545, wasn’t on the agenda for the last meeting of the Health and Human Services Committee. When asked about the issue after the meeting, Chairman Brodeur said he wasn’t sure that legislation was needed to promote or allow telehealth in the state. Additionally, given the advances in technology, Broduer expressed concerns that legislation could actually impede the use of telehealth in the state.
