A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT requiring the department of health and human services to create an interagency task force to study the expansion of telemedicine in this state and the implementation of a health home initiative for PATIENTS with chronic conditions.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  It is the intent of the General Assembly to improve access and quality of care for underserved patients by enabling health care professionals to provide these patients with consultations and specialty care through telemedicine, which is defined as the use of synchronous video conferencing, remote patient monitoring, and asynchronous health images or other health transmissions supported by mobile devices or other telecommunications technology by a health care provider to deliver health care services relating to the health care diagnosis or treatment of a patient at a site other than the site where the provider is located.
SECTION 1.(b)  The Department of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Department of Insurance, the Division in the Department of State Treasurer responsible for the State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees, and other agencies as applicable, shall create an interagency task force responsible for studying the feasibility and desirability of (i) advancing the use of telemedicine in this State by requiring health insurers, as defined in G.S. 108A‑55.4, health maintenance organizations, the State's Medicaid Plan, and the State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees to provide the same coverage and reimbursement for health care services delivered through telemedicine as that provided for health care services delivered through in‑person consultation and (ii) implementing a health home initiative for Medicaid enrollees and other patients with multiple chronic conditions to enable health care providers to communicate with one another utilizing health information technology, whenever possible, to address all of the patients' health care needs in a collective, comprehensive, and cost‑effective manner.
SECTION 1.(c)  By no later than December 1, 2014, the Task Force shall report the results of its study and any recommendations to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services.
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.