Medi-Cal: telehealth.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, subject to federal approval, in-person, face-to-face contact is not required under Medi-Cal when covered health care services are provided by video synchronous interaction, asynchronous store and forward, audio-only synchronous interaction, remote patient monitoring, or other permissible virtual communication modalities, when those services and settings meet certain criteria. Existing law defines "asynchronous store and forward" as the transmission of a patient's medical information from an originating site to the health care provider at a distant site. This bill would expand that definition, for purposes of the above-described Medi-Cal provisions, to include asynchronous electronic transmission initiated directly by patients, including through mobile telephone applications. Existing law prohibits a health care provider from establishing a new patient relationship with a Medi-Cal beneficiary via asynchronous store and forward, telephonic (audio-only) synchronous interaction, remote patient monitoring, or other virtual communication modalities, except as specified. Among those exceptions, existing law authorizes a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the visit is related to sensitive services, as defined, and when established in accordance with department-specific requirements and consistent with federal and state law, regulations, and guidance. This bill would expand that exception to include asynchronous store and forward when the visit is related to sensitive services, as specified. Existing law authorizes a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the patient requests an audio-only modality or attests that they do not have access to video, as specified. This bill would remove, from that exception, the option of the patient attesting that they do not have access to video.