Telehealth and COVID-19

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By Kim Stanger

Federal Action. To promote the use of telehealth in response to Coronavirus, the federal government took several significant steps this week:

  • Medicare dramatically expanded the telehealth services for which it will pay.
  • HHS suspended HIPAA security rule requirements that may have otherwise limited the technology used for telehealth visits. As a result, providers are free to use non-public facing applications such as FaceTime, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, etc., to conduct telehealth visits. They should not use public-facing applications such as Facebook Live, Twitch, TikTok, etc.
  • HHS suspended the HIPAA rule that would require the distribution of a Notice of Privacy Practices at the time of service.
  • The DEA now allows registered practitioners to issue prescriptions for all schedule II-V controlled substances to patients for whom they have not conducted an in-person medical evaluation, provided all of the following conditions are met: (i) the prescription is issued for a legitimate medical purpose by a practitioner acting in the usual course of his/her professional practice; (ii) the telemedicine communication is conducted using an audio-visual, real-time, two-way interactive communication system; and (iii) the practitioner is acting in accordance with applicable federal and state laws.

State Action. Importantly, the federal actions do not remove state law limits on telehealth. Many states impose licensure, technology, consent, or other procedural requirements. Unless waived by state agencies, these state laws must also be considered before launching telehealth services. Read more