California’s Plan for Telehealth

The Center for Connected Health Policy has released a model statute for California that recommends modernizing state telemedicine and workforce laws, to encourage more robust adoption of telehealth technologies. The full report, Advancing California’s Leadership in Telehealth Policy: A Telehealth Model Statute & Other Policy Recommendations,” makes 13 recommendations in four categories:

• Revisions to the state’s Telemedicine Development Act of 1996 (TDA), focusing primarily on financial incentives and informed consent;
• Recommendations to incorporate telehealth into state workforce law;
• Statutory recommendations to promote interoperability of technology and consumer education;
• Recommendations on increasing research and education efforts in telehealth technologies.