Maryland Governor Signs New Telehealth Rules, Programs Into Law

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has signed four bills aimed at improving access to and coverage for telehealth services.

The bills, HB 448, SB 402, HB 1208 and SB 502, were passed by the Legislature prior to the Coronavirus pandemic. Hogan, who has already issued executive orders expanding the use of connected health services during the emergency, is signing these bills into law as an emergency act, so that they’ll take effect immediately.

And because they’re bills passed into law, the amendments won’t end when the pandemic ends, unlike most of the emergency actions taken by federal and state governments to expand the use of telehealth to deal with the virus.

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HB 448 and its Senate companion bill, SB 402, add asynchronous (store-and-forward) telemedicine to the state’s telehealth guidelines, allows providers to use telehealth to establish the doctor-patient relationship, requires the provider to adhere to the same standards as for in-person care and, if clinically appropriate, provide or refer a patient to in-person services or another type of telehealth service.

The two bills also establish guidelines for the use of telehealth to prescribe certain controlled substances in certain situations.

HB 1208 and its companion Senate bill, SB 502, require the state’s Medicaid program, the Maryland Medical Assistance Program, to provide telemental health services to patients in their homes and amends the state’s telehealth definition to include telemental health in the list of services covered by certain insurers, non-profit health service plans and health maintenance organizations.

The bills also require the Maryland Department of Health to apply to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services by Dec. 1, 2020 for a waiver to launch a pilot program to deliver chronic care management services via telehealth to Medicaid recipients regardless of where that member is located, thus allowing for home-based virtual care. The department is tasked with reporting back to the Legislature by December 1 and providing updates on the program every six months.

In addition, the bills call for the state health department to study whether substance use disorder services can be provided via telehealth to Medicaid recipients. The department will be required to report back to the Legislature by Dec. 1, 2021.