A new bill covering telemedicine services (HB 505/SB 1882) was read on the full Florida House of Representatives floor on Tuesday March 8th, 2011.
The bill requires health insurers, corporations, and health maintenance organizations issuing certain health policies to provide coverage for telemedicine services.
The new bill prohibits the exclusion of telemedicine cost coverage solely because the services were not provided face to face.
The bill provides coverage under the state plan without a condition that telemedicine services are restricted to health care providers licensed by the Florida Deptartment of Health.
If the telemedicine bill is passed in its present form it would require the insurer to reimburse for services provided by a health care provider not licensed within Florida
This would render the regulation of health care professionals by the respective professional boards, where telemedicine is concerned, moot with regard to out of state practitioners.
Similar telemedicine legislation is being debated in California, Oregon and Washington state right now.
Nurses have created "Nursing Compacts" with government grants that are, in effect, seperate licenses allowing them to practice across state lines.
Physicians have a "special license" that allows them to practice medicine across state lines and still retain the supervision of their state licensing boards.
Why should Physical Therapists be left out of the party?
A recent randomized, controlled trial in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery showed that telerehabilitation, in one setting, can produce superior outcomes than conventional Physical Therapy for Total Knee Replacement.
What do the readers of PhysicalTherapyDiagnosis.com think about telerehabilitation services, such as remote video monitoring?
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American Physical Therapy Association
Consistent with the American Physical Therapy Association Vision Statement for Physical Therapy 2020, the American Physical Therapy Association supports exclusive physical therapist ownership and operation of physical therapy services.