HB 6001 Summary - Telehealth Act

• Expands telehealth services from effective date through March 15, 2021, allowing real-time, store-and-forward, and remote patient monitoring technologies for a broad range of licensed health care providers including physicians, nurses, therapists, counselors, and dentists.

• Permits telehealth providers to prescribe schedule II and III controlled substances (excluding opioids) via telehealth for psychiatric disabilities and substance use disorders, including medication-assisted treatment, consistent with federal Ryan Haight Act requirements.

• Requires individual and group health insurance policies to cover telehealth services to the same extent as in-person care, prohibits facility fees for telehealth services, and mandates reimbursement at Medicare rates for uninsured patients.

• Mandates electronic transmission of all controlled substance prescriptions to pharmacies, with limited exceptions for technological failures, emergency situations, and compounded medications.

• Allows the Commissioner of Social Services to provide coverage under Connecticut Medicaid for audio-only telehealth services through March 15, 2021.