RÉSUMÉ DIGEST
ACT 88 (HB 589) 2020 Regular Session Echols
New law provides that, for its purposes, "telehealth" shall have the following meaning
ascribed in the La. Telehealth Access Act (R.S. 40:1223.1 et seq. of existing law):
"Telehealth" means a mode of delivering healthcare services that utilizes information
and communication technologies to enable the diagnosis, consultation, treatment,
education, care management, and self-management of patients at a distance from
healthcare providers. Telehealth allows services to be accessed when providers are
in a distant site and patients are in the originating site. Telehealth facilitates patient
self-management and caregiver support for patients and includes synchronous
interactions and asynchronous store and forward transfers.
New law requires the La. Department of Health (LDH) to periodically review policies
regarding Medicaid reimbursement for telehealth services to identify variations between
permissible Medicaid reimbursement and reimbursement available to healthcare providers
under the Medicare program.
New law authorizes LDH to modify its administrative rules, policies, and procedures
applicable to Medicaid reimbursement for telehealth services as necessary to provide for a
reimbursement system that is comparable to that of the Medicare program.
Existing law provides relative to policies and procedures of LDH for the operation of the
Medicaid managed care program of this state. New law adds a requirement that LDH include
in its Medicaid policies and procedures all of the following information relating to telehealth:
(1)An exhaustive listing of the covered healthcare services which may be furnished
through telehealth.
(2)Processes by which providers may submit claims for reimbursement for healthcare
services furnished through telehealth.
(3)The conditions under which a managed care organization may reimburse a provider
or facility that is not physically located in La. for healthcare services furnished
through telehealth to a La. Medicaid enrollee.
Effective Aug. 1, 2020.
(Adds R.S. 40:1255.1 and 1255.2 and R.S. 46:460.51(17) and 460.54(G))