Telehealth standards could change in Texas if the state’s legislature passes newly proposed legislation removing the requirement for physicians to meet patients in-person before offering services via telehealth or prescribing any drugs.

The National Law Review reported the bill would remove one of the main reasons Texas has been given the lowest composite score for telehealth access by the American Telemedicine Association. These struggles chiefly rose from the Texas Medical Board’s concerns that Dallas-based Teladoc, one of the largest telehealth providers, would handle writing prescriptions for patients their physicians had never met. Teladoc eventually won the case.

The new bill would still require doctors to establish a relationship with telemedicine patients before ordering drugs, but not via a face-to-face visit.

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