Health Law Advisor

Effective June 11, 2018, all Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) health care providers will be able to offer the same level of care to all beneficiaries regardless of the beneficiary’s or the health care provider’s location. In its recently released final rule, the VA stated that in December 2016 Congress mandated that the agency provide veterans with a self-scheduling, online appointment system, and that the agency meet the demands for the provision of health care services to veterans, regardless of whether such care was provided in-person or using telehealth ...

One of the largest hurdles to the growth of telehealth—the lack of a streamlined process for obtaining physician licensure in multiple states—is one step closer to being scaled. The Federation of State Medical Boards (“FSMB”) recently released a revised draft of its Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (“Compact”). This revised draft is a continuation of efforts by FSMB and its member boards to study the feasibility of an interstate license portability. Additionally, the revised draft of the Compact reflects changes based upon comments received from FSMB member ...

We all know that telehealth is going mainstream.  The numbers speak for themselves.  A leading research firm predicts that 2.8 million patients worldwide used home-based remote monitoring devices in 2012—expected to increase to 9.4 million connections globally by 2017.  Another firm projects that the number of patients using telehealth services in the United States will grow to 1.3 million in 2017, up from 227,000 in 2012.  Even less rosy projections predict growth to 2 million patients worldwide by 2017.  The news is even better in subspecialties like telepsychiatry   that are ...

Telehealth is going mainstream. Once limited to rural or remote communities, the use of telehealth is increasingly being used to address critical shortages within many medical specialties (such as dermatology, neurology, radiology, critical care and mental health), and as a more efficient means to provide health care services. Many leading nationally-recognized health care providers, health plans and others have significant telehealth initiatives underway often in partnership with telecommunications vendors and government entities.  And developments in this space tend ...

Telehealth is expanding rapidly outside of the U.S. in both developed and developing countries.  Not surprisingly, the expanded use of telehealth presents many of the same regulatory and reimbursement challenges abroad that it does here in the U.S.  One region in particular that has taken steps to expand telehealth across borders is Europe, where in an effort to confront the legal issues raised by telehealth, the E.U. has removed and revisited existing regulations.  The E.U. has also issued guidance through the European Commission (an institution that is responsible for ensuring ...

When evaluating the various legal and regulatory hurdles associated with telehealth—such as licensure, reimbursement, and privacy—one hurdle that often goes overlooked is the corporate practice of medicine.  Many states have enacted laws which directly or indirectly are viewed as prohibiting the “corporate practice” of medicine.  While variations exist among states, the doctrine generally forbids a person or entity, such as a general business corporation, other than a licensed physician, professional corporation (“PC”) or a professional limited liability ...

We are all too familiar with the many hurdles that stand in the way of the greater proliferation of telehealth.  This blog has examined various legal and regulatory stumbling blocks such as licensure, reimbursement, and privacy that continue to stand in the way of telehealth fulfilling its great promise—at least in the United States.  Other countries are increasingly embracing telehealth.  A recent spate of legislative and other activities, however, point to an evolving environment in which legislators and regulators are beginning to understand and grapple with the many legal and ...

The rapid development and utilization of remote patient monitoring tools in health care exposes the limitations of state licensure laws that generally require physicians to be licensed in states where their patients are located.  These laws are predicated on the physician and patient being in the same jurisdiction.  However, when using mobile-devices to actively monitor patients (such as a device sensor with 4G chipset that can directly connect to cellular networks), there is no single geographic anchor or fixed moment in time from which to define the encounter, episode or point of ...

by Joel Rush and Dawn Helak

All indications are that international telemedicine is well positioned for strong growth over the next several years. The global healthcare marketplace is ripe with opportunities for U.S. based healthcare systems and providers to take advantage of the expanding use of telemonitoring systems and other telemedicine technologies to deliver top flight healthcare to patients across the globe.

However, wherever there are opportunities, there are challenges. In addition to the economic and financial barriers to launching an international telemedicine ...

Many legal obstacles have long stood in the way of telehealth. There are licensure laws, prescribing laws, practice of medicine requirements, credentialing rules, insurance coverage issues, and concerns about privacy, among others.  These hurdles have until recently relegated telehealth to the most geographically remote corners of health care where the only means of obtaining medical care is by phone or computer connection to a provider hundreds of miles away.  But now, with physician shortages and the ubiquity of the smart phone, telehealth is beginning to show up all over the ...