Bid to expand telemedicine falters in Legislature
"It doesn't look good,"
In the
That committee had its final meetings of the session this week and spent a significant amount of time on the
In the
The proposed legislation established standards of practice for telemedicine in the state by doctors, nurses, chiropractors, optometrists and other health care professionals. The bill would have required that physicians be licensed in
While 23 states and the
That language was left out of this year's bills after insurance companies opposed the requirement, which was in one of the bills that died during last year's session. Instead, the companies would negotiate reimbursement rates with providers.
Even without the telehealth law in place,
Some local health care providers already are actively engaged in telehealth. For example,
"We also use telemedicine for general psychological consultations of our patients to determine mental capacity. Telemedicine is used in situations when local psychiatrists who are on the medical staff are not able to promptly evaluate behavioral health patients at
In
In an interview a few weeks back, Dewar said he felt the legislation in
"This is going to be one of the biggest areas where medicine will change in the next few years," Dewar said.
The
Dr.
Bender said psychiatry and psychology are two areas that make significant use of telemedicine. He said at first he "intuitively" thought that would not work well because of the intimate one-on-one relationship a patient and provider have to develop for counseling to work. But Bender said the VA has received positive patient feedback.
He said the
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