California Passes Telemedicine Law

Under a new law in California, private-sector health care providers mustestablish, by July 1, reimbursement for telemedicine procedures considered equivalent to face-to-face visits.

Feedback Research Services, which has published a report on the issue, says there was relatively little objection from the health care industry to the bill, which is seen as a model for demonstrating the power of cooperation and education betwewn industry and legislators.

The focus has been on federally- and state-funded programs (Marketletter January 13), there may be 10 times as many total systems in use when privately-funded telemedicine networks are included, FBS says. Also, the barriers associated with reimbursement may ultimately not be of concern to doctors and health care providers, some of whom already bill for telemedicine-mediated services as regular visits.