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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6472
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 3480
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)
AN ACT CONCERNING TE LEHEALTH.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) As used in this section, (1) 1
"commissioner" means the Commissioner of Social Services; (2) 2
"department" means the Department of Social Services; (3) 3
"asynchronous", "originating site", "remote patient monitoring", "store 4
and forward transfer" and "synchronous" have the same meanings as 5
provided in section 19a-906 of the general statutes; and (4) "telehealth" 6
means the provision of health care or other health care services via 7
information and communication technologies to facilitate the diagnosis, 8
consultation and treatment, education, care management and self-9
management of a patient's physical and mental health, and includes, but 10
is not limited to (A) interaction between the patient at the originating 11
site and the telehealth provider at a distant site, and (B) synchronous 12
interactions, asynchronous store and forward transfers or remote 13
patient monitoring. "Telehealth" does not include the use of a facsimile, 14
a text messaging device or electronic mail. 15 Raised Bill No. 6472
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(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17b-245c, 17b-245e 16
and 19a-906 of the general statutes, the commissioner shall provide 17
coverage under the Medicaid program for telehealth services in 18
accordance with this section and to the extent permissible under federal 19
law for a period of two years ending on June 30, 2023. The commissioner 20
shall provide Medicaid reimbursement for services delivered via 21
telehealth to the same extent as if the service was delivered in person, 22
including, but not limited to, audio-only telehealth services when (1) 23
such services can be delivered in a clinically appropriate manner, as 24
determined by the commissioner, by means of a telephone, or (2) when 25
a patient is unable to connect with telehealth providers by video due to 26
access barriers, including, but not limited to, lack of technology, 27
equipment or Internet access. 28
(c) The commissioner shall not (1) impose higher patient cost sharing 29
or more stringent prior authorization standards for telehealth services 30
than in-person services, (2) limit coverage under the Medicaid program 31
based on the provider's or patient's location during telehealth services, 32
(3) prohibit a physician-patient relationship from being established via 33
a telehealth visit, (4) prohibit a patient from providing consent to 34
services or procedures verbally during a telehealth visit, or (5) limit 35
coverage to an existing patient. 36
(d) The commissioner shall require that the transmission, storage and 37
dissemination of data and records related to telehealth services be in 38
accordance with federal and state law and regulations concerning the 39
privacy, security, confidentiality and safeguarding of individually 40
identifiable information. 41
(e) Not later than February 1, 2023, the commissioner shall submit a 42
report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general 43
statutes, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly 44
having cognizance of matters relating to human services and public 45
health on (1) whether the expansion of telehealth services pursuant to 46
this section has increased access to health care among Medicaid 47
beneficiaries, (2) regions of the state that have experienced an increase 48 Raised Bill No. 6472
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in access due to the expansion of telehealth services, (3) any cost savings 49
realized by the state for nonemergency transportation or other services 50
related to the expansion of telehealth services, and (4) recommendations 51
concerning whether Medicaid beneficiaries would benefit from a 52
permanent expansion of telehealth services in accordance with this 53
section. 54
(f) The commissioner may implement policies and procedures as 55
necessary to carry out the provisions of this section while in the process 56
of adopting the policies and procedures as regulations, provided notice 57
of intent to adopt the regulations is published in accordance with the 58
provisions of section 17b-10 of the general statutes. 59
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2021 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To expand telehealth services for Medicaid beneficiaries for a period of
two years and study whether the benefits of expanding such services
should be made permanent.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]