Rene Y. Quashie, a Senior Counsel in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, and the firm’s Telehealth practice were featured in mHealthIntelligence, in “Analyzing Telemental Health: 50 States, 50 Policies,” by Eric Wicklund. The article discusses the findings of Epstein Becker Green’s report, “50-State Survey of Telemental/Telebehavioral Health (2016), which provides a detailed analysis of the laws, regulations, and regulatory policies impacting telemental health in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Following is an excerpt:
“As telemental health care gains in popularity, it gives rise to a number of significant legal and regulatory issues, including privacy and security, follow-up care, emergency care, treatment of minors, and reimbursement, among other things,” Rene Y. Quashie, senior counsel in the law firm’s healthcare and life sciences practice, said in a recent release. “While some federal laws and regulations (such as HIPAA) apply, most of the issues involve state law, which has resulted in an inconsistent patchwork of laws and regulations that vary widely by state. And there are a number of states that don’t address telemental health specifically in their laws.”
For example, the report finds that most states treat psychiatrists as practicing physicians, so that they must comply with all guidelines applied to physicians using telehealth. One of the few states to create a separate set of guidelines for telemental health providers is Texas.