Governor waives
certain telemedicine regulations
Governor
Greg Abbott waived certain regulations and directed the Texas
Department of Insurance (TDI) to issue an emergency rule to help
doctors across Texas continue to treat their patients while mitigating
the spread of COVID-19. State actions include:
- TDI filed an emergency rule requiring insurers
to pay the same amount for telemedicine services, including
covered mental health services, as they do for in-person services.
The rule applies to in-network services for state-regulated health
plans.
- Governor Abbott suspended a state law limiting
insurance coverage for medical visits and consultations by phone.
- The Governor approved the Texas Medical Board's
(TMB) request to suspend state rules blocking the use of phone
consultations to establish a physician-patient relationship. Before
the change, telemedicine services could be provided only after the
physician-patient relationship had been established during an
in-person visit.
“This
will help protect patients and our state’s health-care professionals
while maintaining access to care,” said Insurance Commissioner Kent
Sullivan. “We expect to see large-employer health plans and others not
subject to state rules follow suit.”
State-regulated
plans cover about 15% of the Texas market, including plans purchased
through Healthcare.gov. The insurance cards for state-regulated plans
have either “DOI” (for department of insurance) or “TDI” (Texas
Department of Insurance) printed on them.
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