Abstract
Telehealth has created exciting new opportunities to increase access to health care; however, it also poses legal and regulatory hurdles for providers. For example, the regulatory scheme for physician licensure is complicated when the physician and the patient are located in different states. One solution to ease the burden of multistate physician licensure is the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which simplifies the licensure process for certain physicians. Concepts such as establishing a physician-patient relationship, informed consent, and standard of care also take on added regulatory layers when used in a multistate, telehealth context. As such, any providers utilizing telehealth should be cognizant of the state requirements where they are physically located, as well as of the state laws where their patients are receiving care. Further, providers must also abide by a variety of federal laws including the Ryan Haight Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Stark, and the Anti-Kickback Statute.
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Notes
- 1.
CMS does allow the use of asynchronous “store and forward” technology for delivering telehealth services when the originating site is a Federal telemedicine demonstration program in Alaska or Hawaii. See 42 CFR 410.78(d).
- 2.
The exceptions include the following: the patient is being treated by and physically located in a hospital or clinic registered under 303(f) of the CSA (21 U.S.C. 823(f)); the patient is being treated by and in the physical presence of a practitioner; the telehealth practitioner is an employee or contractor of the Indian Health Service or tribal organization; the telehealth encounter is being conducted during a medical emergency as declared by the Secretary of Health and Human Services or a Department of Veterans Affairs medical emergency; the telehealth practitioner has obtained a special registration from the U.S. Attorney General; or the telehealth encounter is being conducted under circumstances that the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Health have, jointly and by regulation, determined [22].
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Faget, K., Lacktman, N.M., Joseph, J., Shalom, A. (2021). Telehealth Legal and Regulatory Issues. In: Ford, D.W., Valenta, S.R. (eds) Telemedicine. Respiratory Medicine. Humana, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64050-7_2
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