The Colorado House Health, Insurance and Environment Committee unanimously voted Thursday in favor of a new bill to prevent payers from limiting telehealth, according to The Denver Post.
The bill would keep payers from requiring patients in communities with populations of 150,000 or less to receive in-person care if it can be appropriately provided at a distance. It would also prohibit payers from charging different deductibles, co-payments or co-insurance amounts for telehealth.
The bill progressed to the House floor. It was amended to call it a "telehealth" expansion, rather than "telemedicine" because of the variety of health services it encompasses. It was also amended to push back removal of the population restrictions one year, effective Jan. 1, 2017, according to the report.
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