Momentum Continues in Telehealth Legislative Activity with Passage of Texas Law

Telehealth continues to be a hot topic of state and federal legislatures. Texas, for example, recently joined the rest of the states in no longer requiring initial in-person visits before being able to provide telehealth services.

The Texas legislature enacted the major telehealth bill SB 1107 on May 19, 2017, and the governor signed the bill into law shortly thereafter on May 27, 2017. As reported in our prior post, Texas had considered that, if passed, this telehealth bill would allow patient-physician relationships to be established via telemedicine without requiring an initial in-person visit. Prior guidance from Texas Medical Board required an in-person physician-patient interaction before a visit via telehealth, specifically in prescribing medication. The Texas Medical Board’s telemedicine FAQs are being revised as a result of this enacted law.

This law’s enactment would also effectively bring to an end the years long battle between a telehealth provider and Texas Medical Board. In 2015, a telehealth provider brought legal action against the Texas Medical Board and its telehealth restrictions. This litigation was twice stayed to allow for such a resolution to occur.

Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission was investigating the Texas Medical Board for possible antitrust violations due to its guidance that restricted the practice of telemedicine and telehealth in Texas. However, on June 21, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it will close its investigation into the Texas Medical Board as a result of the Texas legislatures enacting the law that overrode the board’s telehealth restrictions.

This Texas telehealth law is important because of the large telehealth market that Texas represents. The passage of this law removes the hurdle to allow telehealth providers to start operating or expand operations in the state with the second largest population in the nation.

We continue to track the progress of bills in state and federal legislatures. If you have questions on the provision of telehealth services- in Texas or any other state- please reach out to Epstein Becker Green’s Telehealth & Telemedicine team to learn more about our capabilities. Additionally, we are in the process of updating our state survey on telemental health laws. Check back soon for additional details.