Telehealth Faces Legal Obstacles Before It Can Take Off

A proposed government expansion of telehealth services faces an array of obstacles covering everything from how to license doctors performing telehealth to how to pay for the services.

Telehealth has primarily been offered to rural patients who don’t live near their doctor, and the proposed changes would let Medicare Advantage plans expand the service to all patients regardless of their location. Telehealth refers to any remote clinical interaction between a doctor and patient and can occur through services such as Skype or Apple’s FaceTime.

The late October proposal would take affect in 2020 and would allow Medicare managed care plans ...