Page 9 - Delaware Medical Journal - July 2017

MSD Helped Delaware Craft Model Telehealth Legislation
PRESIDENT’S PAGE
PRAYUS TAILOR, MD
MSD President Prayus Tailor, MD is a Nephrologist who practices with Nephrology Associates in Newark and Wilmington.
Welcome to another themed issue of the Delaware Medical Journal. This month we
delve into the topic of telemedicine. In 2015, the Medical Society of Delaware (MSD), working with key organizations including the Delaware Telehealth Coalition and our legislators, crafted language to codify telehealth and telemedicine into state law. Our unique and comprehensive bill has been used
as a platform for model telemedicine legislation developed by the American Medical Association. This law requires parity in payment from insurers for telemedicine as compared with in- describing these services and they are listed below:
“Distant site” is the site where a health care provider who is legally allowed
to practice in the state is located while providing health care services by means of telehealth.
“Originating site” is a site in Delaware where a patient is located at the time health care services are provided to him or her by means of telehealth.
“Store and forward transfer” means the transmission of a patient’s medical information either to or from an originating site or to or from the clinician at the distant site. This does not require the patient being present nor does it need to be in real time.
“Telehealth” means the use of information and communications technologies which support clinical health care, clinician consultation, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and health administration services. Examples of such technology are telephones, store and forward transfers, remote patient monitoring devices, or other electronic means.
“Telemedicine,” a form of telehealth, refers to the delivery of clinical health care services including assessment, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, education, and care management by a health care professional at their distant site to a patient at their originating site by means of real time two-way audio, visual, or other telecommunication or electronic communication, including the application of secure video conferencing or store and forward transfer technology. The health care professional must be providing
care within his or her scope of practice as would be practiced in-person with a patient and must be legally allowed to practice in the State.

embrace this technology? The answer is becoming clearer as we look at the other organizations already implementing
this technology and proposed federal legislation. Last year, the large private health care system Kaiser Permanente boasted that half of its clinical encounters were telehealth visits. Furthermore,
the Veterans Health Administration
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