Texas Medical Board releases telemedicine rules

The Texas Medical Board hopes to adjust how telemedicine providers in the state are allowed to treat patients. Texas was the last large market without rules to regulate video consultations.

The proposed rules, which are out for public comment, would do away with the provisions that a “patient site presenter” must be available for patients being treated for new conditions at medical sites and that off-site, providers see patients in the flesh before providing for them remotely.

Instead, the proposal stipulated that a health professional “must establish a practitioner-patient relationship,” but it did not specify how such a relationship must be formed, opening up the possibility for such a relationship to be completely virtual.

These changes are in line with the state law passed in May that allows providers to care for patients virtually with- out having in-person meetings first—a response to an issue that first arose prominently when the Texas Medical Board told Teladoc in 2011 that it couldn’t provide telemedicine services without preliminary in-person visits.

The new rules could affect up to 28 million patients in the state, about 3 million of whom live in rural areas.

“There was compromise, collaboration and bipartisan support to get something passed,” said Stephen Love, CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, referring to the new law. “The proposed rules are certainly being reviewed, but hopefully the implementation will be consistent with the collaborative spirit surrounding the legislation.”