Foley Attorneys Help Draft Groundbreaking Telehealth Legislation in New Mexico

On April 4, 2019, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law SB 354, designed to bring New Mexico to the forefront of telehealth insurance coverage and payment parity laws. The new law takes effect July 1, 2019, and will close gaps in the state’s current telehealth insurance coverage, benefitting patients and helping catalyze the growth of these technologies throughout the State.

Nathaniel Lacktman, partner at Foley & Lardner and Chair of the firm’s national Telemedicine & Digital Health Industry Team, helped draft the language in the legislation. The goal was to align New Mexico law more closely with model language and best practices for telehealth. The law requires health plans to cover services provided via telemedicine to the same extent the health plan covers the service when provided via in-person contact. The law also ensures payment (reimbursement) parity for telemedicine services delivered by in-network providers.

Approximately 36 states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring commercial health insurance plans to cover medical services delivered via telehealth; approximately 10 of which contain payment parity language. Similar bills are under consideration in other states, including Arizona and Georgia.