BILL NUMBER: S8680
SPONSOR: RYAN C
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to fair pricing for
telehealth services
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 defines a facility fee, distant site, and telehealth.
Section 2 Establishes that a hospital cannot charge a facility fee for
services that are delivered by telehealth.
 
PURPOSE AND JUSTIFICATION:
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the practice of telemedicine has been wide-
ly adopted. Oftentimes, a barrier to healthcare access is the lack of
properly trained professionals in an area, particularly in rural parts
of the state. While telemedicine has removed this barrier, another ò
barrier has been created in the form of facility fees.
A facility fee is a charge that hospital systems can add to a bill for
appointments at any facilities they own, including a primary care
office. Although a telemedicine appointment does not occur in a health
care facility, patients can still be charged a facility fee if the
health care professional conducts the appointment from a health care
facility.
To address this abusive practice, this legislation adds telehealth
services to the list of services that are prohibited from charging a
facility fee. Alabama, Connecticut, Maryland, Ohio, Texas, and Washing-
ton State have eliminated facility fees on telehealth services.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Legislation
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately

Statutes affected:
S8680: 2830 public health law