House committee holds hearing on telemedicine

The House Professional Licensure Committee recently held a hearing on Senate Bill 780 which would regulate telemedicine by professional licensing boards and provide for insurance coverage of telemedicine.

Testimony was heard from Judd Hollander, senior vice president of healthcare delivery innovation at Thomas Jefferson University, as well as from representatives from Allegheny Health Network, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Guthrie Clinic, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Penn Medicine, UPMC Pinnacle, and school districts.

“Telemedicine helps to provide better access to quality, convenient health care, while also keeping costs down and improving health outcomes and population health,” Hollander said. “It allows patients to access physicians and specialists located across the state while those patients remain in their own communities, surrounded by their own support systems. Telemedicine solves access problems in rural and urban areas. There are specialist shortages in rural areas, but there are appointment shortages in urban areas, making access problematic regardless of geography.”

Care provided through telemedicine should not be held to a higher standard just because of the use of technology, Hollander said.

Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia offer insurance coverage for telemedicine. In Pennsylvania, some telemedicine is reimbursed by a few insurers, but payments are inconsistent.

The bill passed unanimously in the Senate.