United States:

The “State” Of Telehealth: Illinois Moves To Expand Telehealth Coverage

On May 30, 2021, Illinois lawmakers passed House Bill 3308
(“HB3308” or the “Bill“) aimed at
expanding the use of telehealth services in the state. The Bill
would increase access and coverage to telehealth by establishing
payment parity for behavioral health and substance abuse services
and by establishing a panel to study payment parity for all
telehealth services.

HB3308 will incorporate and make permanent many of the temporary
emergency actions taken during the public health emergency (the
“Pandemic“). Once signed by Governor Jay Pritzker,
the Bill will, among other things, provide Illinois residents with
greater access to telehealth care services by limiting patient
cost-sharing, expanding the use of remote monitoring, asynchronous
telehealth and audio-only telehealth services, and expanding the
list of providers allowed to use telehealth to include substance
abuse professionals and those providing early stage intervention to
children. In addition, HB3308 will allow for access to innovative
telehealth services, reduce access barriers and improve patient
outcomes.

Like many other telehealth bills, there has been some contention
regarding parity for in person services and telehealth visits.
HB3308 addresses this issue by offering limited parity, for those
in need of mental health treatment and with substance abuse
concerns. As discussed in our prior blog posts in our “State of Telehealth”
series, telehealth services provide greater access to those in need
of medical services. By creating parity for telehealth services,
HB3308 promotes the use of virtual care technologies to help
providers reach more people where they are, rather than requiring
that they come to an office. Senator Dan McConchie, praised the
bill for addressing “a lack of accessibility” in
telehealth services, adding that the bill allows for more residents
in all parts of the state to access healthcare services from
anywhere.

The Bill also calls for the creation of a 14 member task force
to study telehealth payment parity. The task force would be
responsible for “reviewing existing plans and policies issued,
delivered, and offered in this state with respect to coverage and
reimbursement for telehealth services, relevant data on payment
parity for telehealth services, and payment parity statutes in
other states and provide recommendations on the economic
feasibility and cost effectiveness of requiring payment parity for
healthcare services provided via telehealth, including
recommendations for possible legislation.” The task force
would be expected to deliver its recommendations to the Governor
and the general assembly by the end of 2021 and be dissolved at the
beginning of 2023.

We will continue to update this article as additional
information regarding the permanency of telehealth services becomes
available.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.

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