January 13, 2015
On Dec. 29, 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law – NY S07852 - requiring health insurers in New York to pay for covered services delivered by telehealth or telemedicine technology as long as the services and providers are otherwise covered. “Telehealth” is defined as “delivering health care services by means of information and communications technologies consisting of telephones, remote patient monitoring devices or other electronic means which facilitate the assessment, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, education, care management and self management of a patient’s health care while such patient is at the originating site and the health care provider is at a distant site.” “Telemedicine” is defined as “the delivery of clinical health care services by means of real time two-way electronic audio visual communications, including the application of secure video conferencing or store and forward technology to provide or support healthcare delivery, which facilitate the assessment, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, education, care management and self management of a patient’s health care while such patient is at the originating site and the health care provider is at a distant site.” These services will be subject to annual deductibles and coinsurance, and other terms and conditions of coverage, in the same way established for the same services when not provided via telemedicine or telehealth.
NY S07852 »