Texas Lawmakers Scale Back Telehealth Barriers

The Texas legislature approved SB 1107, which removes existing clinical practice barriers for licensed telemedicine providers. The Governor is expected to sign the legislation.  The bill does the following:

• Amends the definition of “telemedicine and “telehealth”
• Removes requirements for a telepresenter
• Authorizes the medical, nursing, and pharmacy boards to develop regulations enforcing the statute
• Allows an initial practitioner–patient relationship to be established via telemedicine if provided via: 
  • a synchronous audiovisual interaction; 
  • an asynchronous encounter utilizing store-and-forward technology where the practitioner has access to clinically relevant images or a medical history; and 
  • any other form of audiovisual telecommunication technology enabling the practitioner to comply with the applicable standard of care.

• Requires insurers to display their policies and payment practices for telemedicine on their websites

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