Utah Extends Telehealth Freedoms Through End of COVID-19 Emergency

Utah has extended state emergency measures for telehealth coverage and access through the end of the nationally declared public emergency created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Governor Gary Herbert announced, based on a recommendation from the Public Health and Economic Emergency Commission, that the state will continue to suspend enforcement of statutes relating to telehealth services until federal officials decide to end the state of emergency.

The order continues a number of freedoms granted during the COVID-19 crisis to expand telehealth coverage and access that allow more providers to use the technology, expand the modalities and the places in which telehealth can be used, and improve health plan reimbursement.

It also allows healthcare providers in the state to use telemedicine and mHealth technology that doesn’t meet privacy and security standards set by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or the federal health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, as long as the providers takes “reasonable care” to protect the patient’s privacy and the patient has the opportunity to decline the service.

Herbert said his decision to extend the emergency action comes as the state continues to see coronavirus cases, and because providers “have expressed that increased access to telehealth services has been well-received and successful, and have requested the continued suspension of enforcement of telehealth-related statutes that create overly burdensome barriers to provide telehealth services.”

Herbert had included the telehealth extension when ordering a continuance of Utah’s state of emergency on September 19, but made that temporary to give the commission time to respond. When the commission unanimously recommended an extension on September 25, he made a separate order for the telehealth measures.

While Congress debates how to extend coverage and access guidelines for connected health services after the emergency, some states have already moved to make those freedoms permanent. Others are continuing coverage with their own emergency measures or – like Utah – tying that coverage into the federal state of emergency.