Prisoners: telemedicine.

Existing law, the Telemedicine Development Act of 1996, regulates the practice of telemedicine, defined as the practice of health care delivery, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, transfer of medical data, and education using interactive audio, video, or data communications, by a health care practitioner, as defined. Existing law establishes that it is the intent of the Legislature that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation operate in the most cost-effective and efficient manner possible when purchasing health care services for inmates. This bill would declare the Legislature's findings on the use of telemedicine in the state's prisons. The bill would require the department to establish guidelines for the use of telemedicine consultations, use telemedicine for all appropriate consultations, make use of existing external telemedicine resources, maintain current prison telemedicine programs, as specified, and establish annual performance targets regarding the use of telemedicine in prisons.