Epstein Becker Green’s 2021 Telemental Health Laws survey of state telehealth laws, regulations, and policies within the mental/behavioral health practice disciplines (and corresponding app available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices), was featured in Becker’s Hospital Review, in “Lawmakers, Agencies Ink Telehealth Rules While They Consider Its Place in Healthcare: 4 Things to Know,” by Hannah Mitchell.

Following is an excerpt:

While lawmakers and government regulators continue to consider the effects virtual care standards have on patients, recent moves at the federal and state levels give a glimpse into where telehealth might be headed, according to a Nov. 18 report …

The report, written by members of the law firm Epstein Becker & Green, compiled federal and state-level regulatory requirements for virtual care.

Four things to know:

  1. CMS published on Nov. 19 the Final Physician Fee Schedule Rule that extends certain virtual services through Dec. 31, 2023. CMS said Nov. 2 that the regulation will allow additional time for it to determine whether these services should make it to the permanent telehealth list.
  2. The Office of the Inspector General released an October study that analyzed the flexibilities the public health emergency order brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has given providers to provide lawmakers with data as they consider telehealth's place in healthcare. The OIG found that 84 percent of Medicare beneficiaries conducted virtual visits only after having an established relationship with their provider. Patients saw their provider for about four months before meeting virtually, the report found.
  3. States granted a variety of flexibility to support telehealth use at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some states have ended their emergency orders and the telehealth offerings that came with it while other states have permanently expanded their telehealth regulations.
  4. Iowa is among the most recent states to provide virtual care standards for clinicians, JD Supra reported Oct. 6. The state introduced regulations that include technology requirements and practices to safeguard patient privacy as well as an informed consent process prior to the telehealth appointment.

For more information and to read our analysis of regulatory requirements for professional mental/behavioral health practitioners and stakeholders seeking to provide telehealth-focused services, please see our 2021 Executive Summary and the firm’s latest press release, and download the complimentary app ꟷ available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.

The survey is co-authored by Amy Lerman and Francesca Ozinal and the following attorneys and contributors from EBG’s Health Care and Life Sciences team: Attorneys Alexis Boaz, Audrey Davis, Vidaur Durazo, Daniel Fahey, Jacqueline Frazer, Priya Kaulich, Devon Minnick, Lauren Petrin, Olivia Plinio, Matthew Sprankle, Christopher Taylor, and Bailey Wendzel; Law Clerks Nija Chappel, Julianna Dzwierzynski, Chloe Hillard, and William Walters; and 2021 Summer Associates Kayla Oakley and Timothy Rozier-Byrd.

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