§ 4100k. Coverage of health care services delivered through telemedicine
(a) All health insurance plans in this State shall provide coverage for health care services delivered through telemedicine by a health care provider at a distant site to a patient at an originating site to the same extent that the plan would cover the services if they were provided through in-person consultation.
(b) A health insurance plan may charge a deductible, co-payment, or coinsurance for a health care service provided through telemedicine so long as it does not exceed the deductible, co-payment, or coinsurance applicable to an in-person consultation.
(c) A health insurance plan may limit coverage to health care providers in the plan's network. A health insurance plan shall not impose limitations on the number of telemedicine consultations a covered person may receive that exceed limitations otherwise placed on in-person covered services.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a health insurance plan from providing coverage for only those services that are medically necessary and are clinically appropriate for delivery through telemedicine, subject to the terms and conditions of the covered person's policy.
(e) A health insurance plan may reimburse for teleophthalmology or teledermatology provided by store and forward means and may require the distant site health care provider to document the reason the services are being provided by store and forward means.
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a health insurance plan to reimburse the distant site health care provider if the distant site health care provider has insufficient information to render an opinion.
(g) In order to facilitate the use of telemedicine in treating substance use disorder, when the originating site is a health care facility, health insurers and the Department of Vermont Health Access shall ensure that the health care provider at the distant site and the health care facility at the originating site are both reimbursed for the services rendered, unless the health care providers at both the distant and originating sites are employed by the same entity.
(h) As used in this subchapter:
(1) "Distant site" means the location of the health care provider delivering services through telemedicine at the time the services are provided.
(2) "Health insurance plan" means any health insurance policy or health benefit plan offered by a health insurer, as defined in 18 V.S.A. § 9402, as well as Medicaid and any other public health care assistance program offered or administered by the State or by any subdivision or instrumentality of the State. The term does not include policies or plans providing coverage for a specified disease or other limited benefit coverage.
(3) "Health care facility" shall have the same meaning as in 18 V.S.A. § 9402.
(4) "Health care provider" means a person, partnership, or corporation, other than a facility or institution, that is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by law to provide professional health care services in this State to an individual during that individual's medical care, treatment, or confinement.
(5) "Originating site" means the location of the patient, whether or not accompanied by a health care provider, at the time services are provided by a health care provider through telemedicine, including a health care provider's office, a hospital, or a health care facility, or the patient's home or another nonmedical environment such as a school-based health center, a university-based health center, or the patient's workplace.
(6) "Store and forward" means an asynchronous transmission of medical information to be reviewed at a later date by a health care provider at a distant site who is trained in the relevant specialty and by which the health care provider at the distant site reviews the medical information without the patient present in real time.
(7) "Telemedicine" means the delivery of health care services such as diagnosis, consultation, or treatment through the use of live interactive audio and video over a secure connection that complies with the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Public Law 104-191. Telemedicine does not include the use of audio-only telephone, e-mail, or facsimile. (Added 2011, No. 107 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 2012; amended 2013, No. 79, § 15, eff. Jan. 1, 2014; 2015, No. 173 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2017, No. 64, § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 2017.)