Arkansas legislators have shot down legislation that would allow video-based telemedicine.
House Bill 1747, sponsored by Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, was rejected by a vote of 49-21. Sullivan, who said the bill "opens up the telemedicine healthcare door to give access and save hundreds of thousands of dollars," said afterwards he would work to submit new legislation.
Opponents to the bill said Arkansas' residents deserve face-to-face medical care.
"It certainly is an exciting time in medicine … but I think we need to slow this process down," Rep. Stephen Magie, D-Conway, told Arkansas Online. "Just because it costs less doesn't mean it's good medicine. It may sound good but I think in the long term it's going to sell our patients short."
The bill would allow companies like Teladoc and American Well to offer video-based care to Arkansas residents, using doctors licensed and living in the state. It would not allow audio-only, e-mail, text messages or online questionnaires as the first and primary point of contact between doctor and patient.
Still alive is a Senate-backed bill pending before the House that would allow telemedicine services in Arkansas, but only after the doctor and patient first met in person.
Earlier this month, Florida lawmakers introduced a bill to allow doctors to connect with patients via video. That bill had to be modified to allow insurers to negotiate their own reimbursement rates with providers after earlier bills that mandated equal reimbursements for online and in-person care were rejected.
Among other states debating telemedicine/telehealth legislation, Minnesota, Idaho and Colorado are looking at bills that would require payers to reimburse for telemedicine, including video visits. In Texas, meanwhile, the state's medical board will decide next month whether to change its rules that prohibit physicians from prescribing medications to patients based on a phone or online consult, before seeing the patient in person.
As of February 2015, at least 23 states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books that require private payers to reimburse telemedicine services at rates equal to in-person visits, according to the American Telemedicine Association. In addition, as of September 2014, the Center for Connected Health Policy says, Medicaid programs in 46 states reimburse for live video consults. Some also reimburse for store-and-forward services, remote patient monitoring and hosting telemedicine services.
