SB 515

This bill provides that no mental health care provider may be required to be

licensed, registered, certified, or otherwise approved to practice in this state to

provide mental health services by telehealth to patients located in this state if the

mental health care provider satisfies certain conditions, including: 1) the mental

health care provider is licensed, registered, certified, or otherwise approved to

practice in the state that the provider is physically present in when providing

telehealth services; 2) the mental health care provider may provide telehealth

services in this state within the scope of his or her license, registration, certification,

or approval from the state from which the mental health care provider is providing

telehealth services; and 3) the mental health care provider informs the patient

whether the provider is licensed in this state, what state he or she is providing

telehealth services from, what states in which he or she is licensed, registered,

certified, or otherwise approved to practice, and which regulatory boards the patient

may contact to file a complaint. Under the bill, “mental health care provider” means

a physician, physician assistant, psychologist, registered professional nurse,

counselor, therapist, or social worker who, by education, training, and experience, is

qualified to provide mental health services to patients. Under current law,

“telehealth” means a practice of health care delivery, diagnosis, consultation,

treatment, or transfer of medically relevant data by means of audio, video, or data

communications that are used either during a patient visit or a consultation or are

used to transfer medically relevant data about a patient, and includes asynchronous

telehealth services, interactive telehealth, and remote patient monitoring.