Page 10 Unlocking The Potential of Physician to Patient Telehealth Services The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

One concern with telehealth is that it will contribute to abuses of prescription drugs, so
many states have restrictions to prevent abusive online prescribing behaviors. For example,
some states have adopted policies to prevent physicians from prescribing drugs based solely
on online questionnaires. This type of policy is especially targeted at preventing abuses of
controlled substances and do not interfere with legitimate uses of telehealth.

Finally, since each state sets its own laws and regulations, there are no national standards
for telehealth. This lack of uniformity creates a serious legal obstacle for physicians who
wish to practice medicine in multiple states. As shown in Figure 2, states do not even have
a consistent definition of what is considered telehealth. For example, some states may
require telehealth to involve real-time communication whereas others allow asynchronous
messaging between patients and providers. Or one state may consider telehealth to include
phone-based interactions while another requires interactive video. These definitions may
not even be internally consistent, as some states may have one definition for the general
population and another set of rules for their Medicaid program. This complexity means
that telehealth providers must research and adhere to different rules depending on where

Creating a consistent their patients are located and who is their insurer. Creating a consistent definition for
telehealth among all states is a necessary step towards unlocking telehealth services that can
definition for telehealth scale nationally.
among all states is a
necessary step towards
unlocking telehealth
services that can scale
nationally.

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Figure 2: States with a definition of telehealth

THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOUNDATION | MAY 2014 PAGE 10