ID HCR046

Idaho Department of Health and Welfare shall convene a council to develop comprehensive standards, policies, rules, and procedures for telehealth and telemedicine use in the state.

Council membership must include physicians from rural and urban areas, hospital administrators, health insurance carrier representatives, Bureau of Occupational Licenses representative, Idaho Hospital Association representative, State Board of Medicine member, State Hospitals representative, and Department of Health and Welfare representative.

35 of Idaho's 44 counties are rural or frontier with limited specialty care access; telehealth and telemedicine can expand service availability while keeping patient revenues in rural communities.

Telehealth and telemedicine services can reduce costs through avoiding travel expenses, eliminating duplicate testing, and reducing lost work time while improving physician recruitment and retention in rural areas.