Kansas Enacts PA-Positive Telemedicine Law

Kansas patients who receive healthcare services from PAs via telemedicine will now be assured that these services will be covered by insurers due to the recent enactment of H.B. 2028. The new law, which was signed on May 12 and becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2019, was the product of months of negotiation at the Kansas State Legislature.

H.B. 2028 requires public and private insurers to provide payment parity for telemedicine-delivered healthcare services if those services are covered when delivered in a traditional office setting. While earlier versions of the bill did not include services provided by PAs, the Kansas Academy of PAs testified before the legislature and was successful in adding PAs to the final language.

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, more than 80 percent of Kansas counties are rural. H.B. 2028 will give Kansas PAs greater ability to care for patients in these rural communities who may otherwise lack access to a healthcare provider.

For more information about the new law or PA practice in Kansas, please contact Erika Miller, COOA Director.