The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) has congratulated Massachusetts for making telehealth a permanent option for its residents

On New Year’s Day, Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker signed into law a healthcare bill that requires insurance companies to cover behavioural telehealth visits the same way they cover in-person care, mandates rate parity for two years for primary and chronic disease care, and provides a short-term model for how those services will be paid.

Importantly, this law allows providers to use all available and appropriate telehealth technologies to deliver care and communicate with both new and existing patients.

“The ATA applauds governor Baker, new house speaker Ron Mariano, senator Cindy Friedman and members of the conference committee for their leadership in taking this important step towards making telehealth a permanent option in this sensible and laudable legislation,” said Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of the ATA. “The ATA believes a patient-provider relationship can be established via telehealth, and we are grateful that a provision found in an earlier version of the bill mandating an in-person relationship was left out of the final bill. This is positive and much-needed legislation to start 2021 off on the right foot.”

The key provisions of the law are:

• Requiring coverage of telehealth services including behavioural health care;
• Expanding scope of practice for advanced practice nurses and optometrists;
• Increasing disclosures around provider costs and network status to protect consumers from surprise medical bills;
• Removing barriers to urgent care centres for MassHealth members;
• Extending insurance coverage and access to Covid-19 testing and treatment; and
• Directing a study and report of the impacts of Covid-19 on the health care system.

“Massachusetts has long been a leader in ensuring health care quality and access and, with this new law, we are making further progress in building a strong, accessible and affordable health care system, a goal that is more important now than ever,” said Baker.“I am proud to sign this legislation which promotes telehealth services that have become vital during this pandemic, expands access to high-quality, affordable care, takes steps to protect consumers from surprise medical bills, and preserves access to Covid-19 testing and treatment. We look forward to working with our partners in the legislature and the health care community to build on these reforms in the future.”

The ATA had previously voiced support for eliminating the requirement for an initial in-person diagnosis before a provider can prescribe for treatment through a telehealth encounter.

The ATA says it is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to safe, affordable and appropriate care when and where they need it, enabling the system to do more good for more people.

The ATA represents a broad and inclusive member network of health care delivery systems, academic institutions, technology providers and payers, as well as partner organisations and alliances, working to advance industry adoption of telehealth, promote responsible policy, advocate for government and market normalisation, and provide education and resources to help integrate virtual care into emerging value-based delivery models.