By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Jan. 16
A Lawrence legislator has introduced a bill aimed at requiring health insurers to cover telemedicine.
“The bill is geared to making delivery of health care services
particularly in the rural areas
more affordable, more available,” said Rep. Tom Sloan, who”s sponsoring House Bill 2065.
Sloan, a Republican, said he crafted the bill after conferring with the hospitals in Hays and Horton and with the University of
Kansas Medical Center.
“One example I can cite is a woman who had cancer surgery and instead of having to go all the way to Kansas City (KU Med.) for the follow-up consultations, she could go to her local hospital,” Sloan said.
“It makes perfect sense, but her insurance won”t pay for it.”
KU Medical Center provides about 3,000 telemedicine consultations annually through about 60 sites across the state. The sites include a mix of hospitals, clinics and schools.
Sloan said he wasn”t sure which companies do not pay for telemedicine.
But Ryan Spaulding at KU Medical Center”s Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth said only Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas covers telemedicine. The company”s coverage, he said, is limited to four visits.
Spaulding said Medicare and Medicaid both cover telemedicine but at rates below those paid by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas.
“What we”d like to see is parallel coverage among the different providers,” Spaulding said.
Spaulding said he had “no idea” how much revenue the bill would generate for the medical center or for rural hospitals.
Mary Beth Chambers, a spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, declined comment, noting the bill”s ramifications still were being reviewed.
Sloan said he expects the insurance industry to oppose the bill.
“They”ll see it as just another mandate,” he said.
Dale White, CEO at the NEK Center for Health and Wellness offered a different perspective: “The primary issue here is access,” he said. “Ten years from now, the telemedicine kinds of things we”re doing now will be as common as a desktop PC (computer) is today.”
He compared the lack of coverage with utility companies once doubting rural communities” need for electricity.
Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.