Title: Telehealth

Summary: Provides practice standards for telehealth providers; requires registration of health care professionals before they may use telehealth to deliver health care services; prohibits registrants from opening an office or providing in-person health care services in this state; requires registrant to notify appropriate board or DOH of certain actions against registrant's professional license; prohibits health care professional with revoked license from being registered as telehealth provider; provides exemptions.

Full Text:
An act relating to telehealth; creating s. 456.47, F.S.; defining terms; providing for certain practice standards for telehealth providers; providing for the maintenance and confidentiality of medical records; requiring the registration of health care professionals not licensed in this state in order to use telehealth to deliver health care services; providing registration requirements; prohibiting registrants from opening an office or providing in person health care services in this state; requiring a registrant to notify the appropriate board or the Department of Health of certain actions against the registrant's professional license; prohibiting a health care professional with a revoked license from being registered as a telehealth provider; providing exemptions to the registration requirement; providing rulemaking authority; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Fl orida: Section 1. Section 456.47, Florida Statutes, is created to read: 456.47 Use of telehealth to provide services.-(1) DEFINITIONS.-As used in this section, the term: CS/HB 2014 (a) "Telehealth" means the use of synchronous or asynchronous telecommunic ations technology by a telehealth provider to provide health care services, including, but not limited to, patient assessment, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, monitoring and transfer of medical data, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and health administration. The term does not include audio-only telephone calls, e-mail messages, or facsimile transmissions. (b) "Telehealth provider" means any person who provides health care and related services using telehealth and who is licensed under chapter 457; chapter 458; chapter 459; chapter 460; chapter 461; chapter 463; chapter 464; chapter 465; chapter 466; chapter 467; part I, part III, part IV, part V, part X, part XIII, or part XIV of chapter 468; chapter 478; chapter 480; part III of chapter 483; chapter 484; chapter 486; chapter 490; or chapter 491; or who is registered under this section and is in compliance with paragraph (4)(a). (2) PRACTICE STANDARD.-(a) The standard of care for telehealth providers providing med ical care is the same as the standard of care for health care professionals providing in-person health care services to patients. A telehealth provider is not required to research a patient's medical history or conduct a physical examination of the patient before using telehealth to provide services to the patient if the telehealth provider conducts a CS/HB 2014 patient evaluation sufficient to diagnose and treat the patient. The evaluation may be performed using telehealth. (b) A telehealth provider and a patient may each be in any location when telehealth is used to provide health care services to a patient. (c) A nonphysician telehealth provider using telehealth and acting within the relevant scope of practice may not be interpreted as practicing medicine withou ta license. (3) RECORDS.-A telehealth provider shall document in the patient's medical record the health care services rendered using telehealth according to the same standard as used for in-person services. Medical records, including video, audio, elec tronic, or other records generated as a result of providing such services, are confidential pursuant to ss. 395.3025(4) and 456.057. (4) REGISTRATION OF OUT-OF-STATE TELEHEALTH PROVIDERS.-(a) A health care professional not licensed in this state may provide health care services to a patient located in this state using telehealth if the telehealth provider annually registers with the applicable board, or the department if there is no board. (b) The board, or the department if there is no board, shall register a health care professional as a telehealth provider if the health care professional: 1. Completes an application form developed by the department; CS/HB 2014 2. Pays a $75 registration fee; and 3. Holds an active, unencumbered license for a profession included in paragraph (1)(b) issued by another state, the District of Columbia, or a possession or territory of the United States and against whom no disciplinary action has been taken during the years before submission of the application. The departmen tshall use the National Practitioner Data Bank to verify information submitted by an applicant. (c) A health care professional registered under this section is prohibited from opening an office in this state and from providing in-person health care services to patients located in this state. (d) A health care professional registered under this section must immediately notify the appropriate board, or the department if there is no board, of restrictions placed on the health care professional's licen se to practice, or disciplinary action taken against the health care professional, in any state or jurisdiction. (e) A health care professional whose license to provide health care services has been revoked in any state or jurisdiction may not register under this section. (5) EXEMPTIONS.-A health care professional who is not licensed to provide health care services in this state but who holds an active license to provide health care services in another state or jurisdiction, and who provides health care services using telehealth to a patient located in this state, is CS/HB 2014 not subject to the registration requirement under this section if the services are provided: (a) In response to an emergency medical condition as defined in s. 395.002; (b) No more than times per calendar year; or (c) In consultation with a health care professional licensed in this state and that health care professional retains ultimate authority over the diagnosis and care of the patient. (6) RULEMAKING.-The applicable board, or the department if there is no board, may adopt rules to administer the requirements of this section. Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.