Montana Governor Expands Telehealth Coverage, But Not For Abortions

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte has signed legislation that permanently expands coverage of and access to telehealth beyond the coronavirus pandemic.

HB 43, which was approved by both chambers of the Legislature without a negative vote, eliminates geographic and site restrictions to telehealth delivery, as well as a requirement that the provider meet with the patient in person before using connected health channels for certain services. It also separates telemedicine from telehealth, and expands the definition to include more store-and-forward platforms, as well as audio-only telehealth (but not faxes or electronic messaging).

The bill basically makes permanent emergency telehealth measures that had been put in place over the past year to address the COVID-19 crisis.

“If the current regulations on telehealth weren’t needed in the midst of a global pandemic, they weren’t necessary in the first place,” State Rep. Rhonda Knudsen, the bill’s sponsor, said in a press release issued by the governor’s office. “With advancements in medical and communications technologies, many primary care needs can be met through the practice of telehealth. This is a commonsense bill to increase Montanans’ access to healthcare.” 

“Telehealth services are transforming how care is delivered in Montana, particularly in our frontier and rural communities,” Gianforte added. “This new, commonsense law eliminates unnecessary, burdensome regulations, increases flexibility for patients and providers, and makes healthcare more accessible to more Montanans. If these telehealth regulations weren’t needed as we confront the pandemic, they’re not needed as we move forward.”

Montana is one of several states recently passing bills to permanently extend telehealth coverage beyond the pandemic – Arkansas and Kentucky have also taken that route over the past couple of weeks. Nearly every state, in fact, has one of more bills on the docket dealing with some form of virtual care.

Not all the news was good for telehealth supporters in Big Sky Country. Gianforte also signed legislation this week that eliminates abortion services through telehealth.

The new law will have an impact. Planned Parenthood, which operates five of the state’s seven clinics, says three quarters of the abortions they oversee are done via medication. Instead of allowing doctors to prescribe abortion-inducing medication via telehealth, the state now requires that the doctor administer those pills in person.

“These bills represent the worst kind of government overreach - placing the government between patients and the medical care they deserve,” Caitlin Borgmann, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, told the Associated Press earlier this year. “Republicans have plowed ahead despite clear warning that the bills are unconstitutional and will be challenged in court.”