HB 283 – Telehealth Fairness Act
Primary Sponsors: Rep. Donny Lambeth (R – Forsyth ), Rep. Verla Insko (D – Orange), Rep. Greg Murphy (R – Pitt), Rep. Josh Dobson (R – Mitchell)
This bill would require health insurance coverage for telemedicine services. Telemedicine is defined as “the use of interactive audio, video or other electronic media for purposes of diagnosis, consultation or treatment.” Under this bill, a health benefit plan would not be able to exclude services provided via telemedicine solely because the service is not provided in person. The bill also states that coverage of services provided via telemedicine shall be at a rate no less than in-person services.
House:
This bill was heard in the House Health Committee on April 5, 2017. Rep. Gale Adcock (D-Wake) put forth an amendment to change the language of “online prescribing limitations” to “online prescribing standards.” This amendment passed unanimously.
The House Health Committee gave this bill a favorable report and it now moves to the House Insurance Committee.
This bill was discussed on the House floor on April 10, 2017. The bill passed with a vote of 111-1. The bill will now move to the Senate.
Senate:
This bill was referred to the Senate Rules and Operations Committee. This bill was withdrawn from this committee, and re-referred to the Senate Health Care Committee on May 16, 2017.
This bill received a favorable report in the Senate Health Care Committee on May 24, 2017.
This bill passed the Senate Rules and Operations Committee on June 27, 2017.
This bill will now move to the Senate floor.
Sen. Krawiec (R-Forsyth) introduced an amendment to include studying psychology services via telemedicine. This amendment passed.
The bill as amended passed the Senate, and will now be sent to the House for concurrence.
The House concurred with the Senate amendment, and the bill. It will now be sent to Governor Cooper.
This bill was signed by Governor Cooper on July 20, 2017.
