Washington’s endless and circular debates over health insurance cannot give a true reflection of reforms in health-care. But the recent progress in telemedicine law that New Jersey has made indicates a great progress in this sector.
Washington’s health-care debate is mainly characterized by varying health insurance visions; affordable care going up against Republican repeal-and-replace; all against single payer. This is far from the type of care such systems of insurance should purchase.
This fight of insurance has been denoted by two main factors; who pays how much and for what services, and who is considered first when it comes to claiming bulks of medical resources largely fixed quantities. This, in the end, ensures that each system comes up with losers and winners.
In the last summer, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed the Senate Bill 291 into law, and this elevated the state of New Jersey to a more telemedicine-friendly state. In certain instances, patients will have an opportunity to get prescriptions without having to visit the doctor physically. The law has gotten rid of the need of a telepresenter, who is a basically a health-care assistant who stays with the patient as the electronic communications with a physician goes on.
As a way of satisfying the concerns of the providers in terms of efficacy and safety, the law clearly defined telemedicine to exclude emails, simple phone calls, faxes, as well as texts. Relationships must be very substantial including the transfers of the medical records of the patient to the teleproviders and video conferences. According to this new law, the patients should not worry about undergoing an in-person examination before having a consultation with a teleprovider.
There are also certain possibilities that some components of this law by the state of New Jersey could discourage telemedicine. This is because it foists massive reporting requirements as well as record keeping. Teleproviders are also required to review some medical records before they meet their patients. The patient’s gender, age, and ethnicity to the state must also be reported by the providers.
In summary, this law is likely to enable New Jersey to provide valuable services and present a wider variety of choices for the patients.