Utah Joins the Telehealth Revolution

On March 24, 2015, Utah Governor Gary Herbert passed the HB 121 bill to expand interstate telehealth coverage in Utah. The bill, which makes Utah the third state to have such regulations as part of the Federal State Medical Board's compact, will allow medical practitioners increased permission to use telehealth technology across state borders once four more states sign on to the compact.

The passage of this bill is part of a chorus of signs that telemedicine, and a variety of new approaches to it, are on the rise. Telemedicine (or telehealth) is online healthcare, designed to save patients and providers time and money, while both extending and improving the quality of care. Providers can use digital technology to connect clients to a network of medical professionals at any distance and at any time over the internet. Patients may use the technology to have routine checkups, ask doctors follow up questions, allow specialists to consult and even to save a trip to the ER. 

Thanks to the bill, Utahans and Americans alike may soon enjoy distributed access to their medical professionals through telecommunications platforms such as TruClinic, whose clients already include the University of Utah health system and Nevada’s WellHealth Quality Care. Universal telehealth platforms like these allow patients to connect directly with the providers they already have, as well as tap into a nationwide listing of doctors available to consult and diagnose via the internet. Once four more states sign the bill, Utah will be a leader in the inevitable telemedicine charge across the nation.

And it's fair to say that telemedicine is indeed inevitable. According to the 2015 Freelance MD Physician Telemedicine Report, “telemedicine is inherently more efficient, more predictable, and less costly than any current delivery of care. While it cannot replace actual interventional or hands-on care, it solves entire categories of wasteful informational visits and begins to provide a platform where every provider and patient has access to the very best information and care.”

Utah joins South Dakota and Wyoming in passing the telehealth bill, with Idaho, Montana and West Virginia among the 11 other states awaiting a decision. Upon national enactment, the compact will provide a streamlined process that allows physicians to become licensed in multiple states, as well as affirm that the practice of medicine occurs where the patient is located at the time of the physician-patient encounter. This requires the consulting physician be under the jurisdiction of the state medical board where the patient is located. National regulations like these are a sign that change is not only coming but already here.

Early adopters like the University of Utah and WellHealth are already making use of the convenience and efficiency of telemedicine and it is only a matter of time before the reimbursement and regulatory legislation catches up. Just as email, ecommerce, and online music transitioned from traditional physical establishments to a more instantaneous digital framework, healthcare is ripe for a similar transition, with inevitable results that will revolutionize health care as we know it.