Prisons: healthcare: 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 authorize the department to use "store and forward" telemedicine technology in state prisons, which would involve the transmission of a prisoner's medical information to be reviewed at a later time by a physician at a distant site. The bill would require that a patient receiving telemedicine by "store and forward" be notified of the right to interactive communication with the distant physician. This bill would authorize the department, where feasible, to utilize "store and forward" telemedicine for teleradiology, teleophthalmology, teledermatology, and telepathology, as defined. The bill would authorize the department to expand the use of "store and forward" telemedicine.