2013 Hawaii Revised Statutes
TITLE 24. INSURANCE
431. Insurance Code
431:10A-116.3 Coverage for telehealth.

Note

Article heading amended by L 2002, c 155, §48.

Health care transformation program within the office of the governor (terminated July 1, 2015); reports to 2014-2015 legislature. L 2013, c 224.

Prescription drug benefits, mail order opt out; reports to 2014-2015 legislature; applicability. L 2013, c 226, §§4, 5.

Cross References

Conformance to federal law, see §431:2-201.5.

Federally qualified health centers; rural health clinics; reimbursement, see §346-53.6.

Health maintenance organization act, see chapter 432D.

Medicaid-related mandates, see chapter 431L.

Mental health and alcohol and drug abuse treatment insurance benefits, see chapter 431M.

Patients' bill of rights and responsibilities act, see chapter 432E.

Prescription drug benefits, see chapter 431R.

Prescription drugs; mail order opt out option, see §87A-16.3.

Proposed mandatory health insurance coverage and assessment report, see §§23-51, 52.

State health insurance program, see chapter 431N.

Attorney General Opinions

Section 431:10A-601 applied to all parts of article 10A if the category of policy under consideration included family coverage, as defined in §431:10A-103. Att. Gen. Op. 97-10.

The placement of §431:10A-601 in this article, regulating content of insurance contracts, makes clear that the legislative intent was to mandate benefits that must be made available by insurers that write contracts of insurance providing family coverage. Att. Gen. Op. 97-10.

Law Journals and Reviews

Tax Justice and Same-Sex Domestic Partner Health Benefits: An Analysis of the Tax Equity For Health Plan Beneficiaries Act. 32 UH L. Rev. 73 (2009).

Case Notes

As chapter 432D does not cover the field of managed care regulation and because §§432D-2, 432E-1, and this article can be read together and there is no explicit language or policy reason not to give each statute effect, chapter 432D does not repeal chapter 432E by implication. 126 H. 326, 271 P.3d 621 (2012).

Properly licensed HMOs, like plaintiff, were authorized pursuant to §432D-1 to "provide or arrange", at their option, for the closed panel health care services required under the managed care plan program; accident and health insurers were authorized under §431:10A-205(b) to arrange for medical services for members using a defined network of providers, i.e., particular "hospitals or persons"; thus, this article and chapter 432D authorized both accident and health insurers and HMOs, as risk-bearing entities, to provide the closed panel product required by the managed care plan contracts. 126 H. 326, 271 P.3d 621 (2012).

PART I. INDIVIDUAL ACCIDENT AND HEALTH

OR SICKNESS POLICIES

Note

Part heading amended by L 2002, c 155, §48.

Attorney General Opinions

Section 431:10A-601 applied to all parts of article 10A if the category of policy under consideration included family coverage, as defined in §431:10A-103. Att. Gen. Op. 97-10.

Case Notes

Under this article and §431:10A-105(2)(A)(ii), standard "incontestability clause" of contract precluded insurer from denying insured "total disability benefit" contracted for, notwithstanding that HIV infection that caused the disability arguably "manifested" itself prior to policy's effective date of coverage. 86 H. 262, 948 P.2d 1103.

§431:10A-116.3 Coverage for telehealth. (a) It is the intent of the legislature to recognize the application of telehealth as a reimbursable service by which an individual shall receive medical services from a health care provider without face-to-face contact with the provider.

(b) No accident and health or sickness insurance plan that is issued, amended, or renewed shall require face-to-face contact between a health care provider and a patient as a prerequisite for payment for services appropriately provided through telehealth in accordance with generally accepted health care practices and standards prevailing in the applicable professional community at the time the services were provided. The coverage required in this section may be subject to all terms and conditions of the plan agreed upon among the enrollee or subscriber, the insurer, and the provider.

(c) There shall be no reimbursement for a telehealth consultation between health care providers unless a health care provider-patient relationship exists between the patient and one of the health care providers involved in the telehealth interaction.

For the purposes of this section, "health care provider" means a provider of services, as defined in 42 U.S.C. 1395x(u), a provider of medical and other health services, as defined in 42 U.S.C. 1395x(s), and any other person or organization who furnishes, bills, or is paid for health care in the normal course of business.

(d) Notwithstanding chapter 453 or rules adopted pursuant thereto, in the event that a health care provider-patient relationship does not exist between the patient and the health care provider to be involved in a telehealth interaction between the patient and the health care provider, a telehealth mechanism may be used to establish a health care provider-patient relationship.

(e) For the purposes of this section, "telehealth" means the use of telecommunications services, as defined in section 269-1, including but not limited to real-time video conferencing-based communication, secure interactive and non-interactive web-based communication, and secure asynchronous information exchange, to transmit patient medical information, including diagnostic-quality digital images and laboratory results for medical interpretation and diagnosis, for the purpose of delivering enhanced health care services and information to parties separated by distance. Standard telephone contacts, facsimile transmissions, or e-mail text, in combination or by itself, does not constitute a telehealth service for the purposes of this chapter. [L 1998, c 278, §2; am L 2002, c 155, §56; am L 2006, c 219, §2; am L 2009, c 20, §3]

Cross References

Practice of telemedicine, see §453-1.3.