Florida’s telehealth bill ( CS/CSHB 7087 Telehealth) gets both the House of Representative and Senate approval for commercial insurers to cover telehealth services to the same extent as in-person office services.
March 16, 2016 by Eric Wicklund
The Sunshine State is moving forward with a telehealth task force, designed to analyze barriers and payer reimbursement. Count Florida among the states embracing telemedicine, though the move toward reimbursement parity may take a few years. The Sunshine State’s House and Senate recently passed legislation – almost unanimously in both chambers – to create a Telehealth Advisory Council, overseen by the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). The council’s main goal is to produce a report by December 1, 2018, that outlines how telemedicine can be expanded in the state, and what barriers might need to be removed. That report will include a comprehensive examination of commercial insurance coverage for telemedicine in the state. The new legislation mandates that the AHCA and the state Department of Health’s Office of Insurance Regulation survey how commercial payers are currently covering telehealth services, and what reimbursement rates they’re paying to Florida providers. That survey is due on June 30, 2018, and providers and insurers who fail or refuse to provide information for the survey can face fines and penalties.
