Health Care

Telehealth prevalence spurs states to adjust laws

Lawmakers have considered hundreds of bills over the past three years to ease patients’ ability to see health care providers remotely.
Medical director of Doctor on Demand Dr. Vibin Roy prepares to conduct an online visit with a patient from his work station at home, April 23, 2021, in Keller, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

Lawmakers are still catching up to a Covid-19-related surge in telemedicine that transformed the American health care system three years ago. 

In recent weeks, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a law adding audio-only consultations to the services the state’s licensed health care practitioners are allowed to provide remotely. North Dakota, Montana and Oklahoma joined the national Counseling Compact, which allows licensed professional counselors to practice across state lines. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signed a law that permanently extended a Covid-era rule allowing opioid prescriptions via telehealth. 

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