General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6472
January Session, 2021 LCO No. 3480
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)
AN ACT CONCERNING TELEHEALTH.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
1 Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) As used in this section, (1)
2 "commissioner" means the Commissioner of Social Services; (2)
3 "department" means the Department of Social Services; (3)
4 "asynchronous", "originating site", "remote patient monitoring", "store
5 and forward transfer" and "synchronous" have the same meanings as
6 provided in section 19a-906 of the general statutes; and (4) "telehealth"
7 means the provision of health care or other health care services via
8 information and communication technologies to facilitate the diagnosis,
9 consultation and treatment, education, care management and self-
10 management of a patient's physical and mental health, and includes, but
11 is not limited to (A) interaction between the patient at the originating
12 site and the telehealth provider at a distant site, and (B) synchronous
13 interactions, asynchronous store and forward transfers or remote
14 patient monitoring. "Telehealth" does not include the use of a facsimile,
15 a text messaging device or electronic mail.
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16 (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17b-245c, 17b-245e
17 and 19a-906 of the general statutes, the commissioner shall provide
18 coverage under the Medicaid program for telehealth services in
19 accordance with this section and to the extent permissible under federal
20 law for a period of two years ending on June 30, 2023. The commissioner
21 shall provide Medicaid reimbursement for services delivered via
22 telehealth to the same extent as if the service was delivered in person,
23 including, but not limited to, audio-only telehealth services when (1)
24 such services can be delivered in a clinically appropriate manner, as
25 determined by the commissioner, by means of a telephone, or (2) when
26 a patient is unable to connect with telehealth providers by video due to
27 access barriers, including, but not limited to, lack of technology,
28 equipment or Internet access.
29 (c) The commissioner shall not (1) impose higher patient cost sharing
30 or more stringent prior authorization standards for telehealth services
31 than in-person services, (2) limit coverage under the Medicaid program
32 based on the provider's or patient's location during telehealth services,
33 (3) prohibit a physician-patient relationship from being established via
34 a telehealth visit, (4) prohibit a patient from providing consent to
35 services or procedures verbally during a telehealth visit, or (5) limit
36 coverage to an existing patient.
37 (d) The commissioner shall require that the transmission, storage and
38 dissemination of data and records related to telehealth services be in
39 accordance with federal and state law and regulations concerning the
40 privacy, security, confidentiality and safeguarding of individually
41 identifiable information.
42 (e) Not later than February 1, 2023, the commissioner shall submit a
43 report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general
44 statutes, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly
45 having cognizance of matters relating to human services and public
46 health on (1) whether the expansion of telehealth services pursuant to
47 this section has increased access to health care among Medicaid
48 beneficiaries, (2) regions of the state that have experienced an increase
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49 in access due to the expansion of telehealth services, (3) any cost savings
50 realized by the state for nonemergency transportation or other services
51 related to the expansion of telehealth services, and (4) recommendations
52 concerning whether Medicaid beneficiaries would benefit from a
53 permanent expansion of telehealth services in accordance with this
54 section.
55 (f) The commissioner may implement policies and procedures as
56 necessary to carry out the provisions of this section while in the process
57 of adopting the policies and procedures as regulations, provided notice
58 of intent to adopt the regulations is published in accordance with the
59 provisions of section 17b-10 of the general statutes.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2021 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To expand telehealth services for Medicaid beneficiaries for a period of
two years and study whether the benefits of expanding such services
should be made permanent.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]
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