While a Native tribal consortium, the U.S. military and local Veterans Affairs outposts are already practicing telemedicine under a federal exemption, Alaska's House has passed a bill that would essentially extend that to all the state's citizens.
“This bill mimics the system already in place for some Alaskans and makes it available to everyone,” said State Rep. Lynn Gattis (R-Wasilla) in a prepared statement. “Anyone needing medical care would be able to use the affordable and accessible system.”
Specifically, House Bill 281 enables patients to visit doctors either online or via telephone while, in turn, qualified primary care physicians in Alaska could diagnose and in some cases write prescriptions based on the encounter. Prior to this legislation, the state considered either prescribing or dispensing any medication without a physical examination to be unprofessional conduct and, as such, subject to disciplinary action.
In the case of prescribing controlled substances without an examination, however, Gattis' bill requires another licensed healthcare provider to be physically present with the patient.
Calling the legislation as much about access as convenience, Gattis explained that 20 percent of Alaska’s population lives in rural areas. As with other largely rural states, that makes obtaining even basic healthcare problematic.
“In this age where we can do almost everything with a smartphone, it should not be necessary to drive to the doctor’s office to have a physical consultation for many common ailments,” Gattis said.
As is the case with other states, including Nevada and Utah, military health centers and Native tribes are already tapping telehealth technologies to extend primary care and specialist outreach to patients in distant regions.
On the national stage, telemedicine advocates recently urged the U.S. Energy and Commerce Committee to expand Medicare’s reimbursement for telehealth services regardless of geographic location or services provided. And telecommunications and healthcare industry associations at April’s end publicly called on the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to make the EHR meaningful use program more telehealth-friendly with the aim of accommodating “the delivery of healthcare in motion, virtually anywhere and at any time.”
The next step for Alaska’s HB 281: Governor Sean Parnell’s desk.
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