CA AB1771

Health care service plans and health insurers must cover telephone visits provided by contracted physicians or contracted qualified nonphysician health care providers for contracts and policies issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2016.

Telephone visits are defined as evaluation and management services provided remotely through live voice communication to established patients, initiated by the patient, and recognized by American Medical Association Current Procedural Terminology codes.

Health plans are not required to separately reimburse for telephone visits that are related to a service provided before or after the visit, bundled with other services, or not initiated by the patient.

Providers may not be required to use telephone visits when medically inappropriate, and all laws regarding patient confidentiality and medical information rights apply to telephone visits.

This section does not apply to patients under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or other correctional facilities.