Telehealth: marriage and family therapist interns and trainees.

Under existing law, "telehealth" is defined as the mode of delivering health care services and public health via information and communication technologies to facilitate the diagnosis, consultation, treatment, education, care management, and self-management of a patient's health care while the patient is at the originating site and the health care provider is at a distant site, and "health care provider" is defined as a person who is licensed under specified provisions of law relating to healing arts. Existing law requires a health care provider prior to the delivery of health care services via telehealth to inform the patient about the use of telehealth and obtain verbal or written consent from the patient for the use of telehealth. Existing law, the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act, provides for the registration of marriage and family therapist interns and regulates marriage and family therapist trainees. Existing law requires applicants for a marriage and family therapist license to complete specified experience subject to certain limitations, including no more than a certain number of hours providing counseling services via telehealth. Existing law requires all marriage and family therapist trainees and registrants to be supervised at all times by a supervisor, as defined, responsible for ensuring that the extent, kind, and quality of counseling performed is consistent with the training and experience of the person being supervised. Existing law requires the supervisor to be responsible to the board for compliance with all laws, rules, and regulations governing the practice of marriage and family therapy. This bill would expand the definition of health care provider to include a marriage and family therapist intern or trainee, as specified. The bill would also authorize a marriage and family therapist intern and trainee to provide services via telehealth if he or she is supervised as required by the act, and is acting within the scope authorized by the act and in accordance with any regulations governing the use of telehealth promulgated by the Board of Behavioral Sciences.