Trending in Telehealth highlights state legislative and regulatory developments that impact the healthcare providers, telehealth and digital health companies, pharmacists, and technology companies that deliver and facilitate the delivery of virtual care.

Trending in the past week:

• Veterinary services

A CLOSER LOOK

Proposed Legislation & Rulemaking:

• In Florida, the Board of Veterinary Medicine proposed a rule that would require veterinarians to include a notation in the medical record if an examination was conducted by telehealth. The Board also proposed a set of guidelines that the Board must follow when imposing disciplinary penalties for violations of telehealth practice rules. The penalties include reprimand, suspension with administrative fines, and revocation of the individual’s license.
• In New York, a bill requiring Medicaid to provide remote ultrasound procedures and remote fetal nonstress tests in certain circumstances passed the first house.

Why it matters:

• Regulation of the use of telehealth in veterinary medicine continues to grow. Florida joins an increasing number of states beginning to develop regulations specifically related to the practice of veterinary medicine via telehealth. This emerging trend in the health industry regulation reflects the steady adoption of telehealth as a valuable care delivery modality across the full gambit of health services industries.

Telehealth is an important development in care delivery, but the regulatory patchwork is complicated