Page 13 50 State Telemedicine Gaps Analysis Coverage and Reimbursement

50 State Telemedicine Gaps Analysis: Coverage & Reimbursement

Forty-eight state Medicaid programs have some type of coverage for telemedicine.

Figure 3

Four states and D.C. have the highest grades for Medicaid coverage for telemedicine-provided
services (Figure 3). Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Rhode Island, and West Virginia ranked the
lowest with failing (F) scores. Iowa, Nevada, and Utah have all made improvements to expand
coverage of telemedicine for their Medicaid populations. Connecticut and Rhode Island are the
only states without coverage for telemedicine under their Medicaid plans. Idaho offers the least
amount of coverage for telemedicine provided services. While Hawaii, Idaho, Oklahoma, and
West Virginia still apply geography limits in addition to restrictions on service coverage,
provider eligibility, and patient setting.

C. State Employee Health Plans

We measured components of state policies that enable or impede parity for telemedicine-
provided services under state-employee health plans.

Scale – State-employee Health
Plan Parity
A 7 points
B 6 points
C 5 points
F ≤ 4 points

Twenty-four states provide some coverage for telemedicine under their state employee health
plans with 21 states extending coverage under their parity laws (Figure 4). Most states self-
insure their plans and 58 percent of the country is ranked the lowest with failing scores due to
partial or no coverage of telehealth.
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American Telemedicine Association
2015