House Status:
Senate Status:
Senate Status:
Minutes for HB2512 - Committee on Health and Human Services
Short Title
Establishing the Kansas telemedicine act.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 5, 2018
Chairperson Hawkins opened the hearing on the opponent, neutral and written testimony sections of HB2512.
Opponents:
Bob Eye, Attorney, Topeka, Kansas, adamantly reported that medical abortions via telemedicine are safe and authorized in states such as Iowa and Maine. The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld the right to medical abortions via telemedicine, and additionally he said, there is a compelling legal case to justify medical abortions via telemedicine; therefore, he opposes this bill (Attachment 3).
Rachel Sweet, Regional Director of Public Policy and Organizing, Planned Parenthood, opposes HB2512 as introduced solely due to Section 6, which states that nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the prescription of an abortifacient, nor shall anything in the Kansas Telemedicine Act be construed to authorize the delivery of any abortion procedure via telemedicine (Attachment 4).
Neutral:
Travis Oller, Executive Director, Kansas Chiropractic Association said telemedicine is an important piece of the health care puzzle and can play a tremendous role in the health care delivery system, especially in a State like Kansas, and would like provider replaced with licensee of the healing arts (Attachment 5).
Allison Gatewood, Vice President for Professional Practices, Kansas Speech and Hearing Association, reported that while HB2512 is a step in the right direction for the future of the provision of healthcare, we urge the Committee to add speech-language pathologists and audiologists to the definition of healthcare provider speech-language pathology services provided by our members (Attachment 6).
Terry Collins, Director Doniphan County Education Cooperative #616, Kansas Association of Special Education Administrators, said he strongly encourages that school based health services be added to the definition of health care provider in the bill (Attachment 7).
Susie Harms, President, Kansas Physical Therapy Association of Kansas (KPTA), reported they are neutral concerning this bill; however, they would certainly be a strong proponent if it recognized all licensed health care providers, including physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. She further stated that the KPTA believes the best health care legislation policies are adopted based upon qualified providers delivering evidence based care that is safe and cost effective (Attachment 8).
Stacie Clarkson, Associate Executive Director, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center, informed the committee she is neutral concerning HB2512; however, the narrow scope of this bill does not provide a clear mechanism for schools or early intervention networks to deliver related medically based services through a telehealth model. She said she requests that schools and early intervention networks be included as an approved provider (Attachment 9).
Denise Cyzman, Executive Director, Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, said she appreciated the committee dedicating the time to come up with a bill that expands healthcare coverage, but she urged the committee to consider recommendations to expand the definition of healthcare provider to include advanced practitioners and that would provide payment or reimbursement parity (Attachment 10).
Stuart Little, Little Government Relations, LLC, spoke as a neutral party on HB2512 because, he said, they support payment parity as well as coverage parity. He stated that despite some occurrences where cost of business rates vary, and when all factors are considered, he suggeted that payment parity is not significantly out of line between in-person and electronic services for the staff intensive behavioral health services (Attachment 11).
Teresa Gerard, CEO, Guardian Group, LLC is neutral on the telemedicine bill and said she appreciates the effort put into writing the bill. She said although there is not full payment or reimbursement parity in this compromise bill, the negotiated or fee schedule rates and medical necessity criteria needs to be monitored to insure fair compensation and fair case review for Kansas health and behavioral health professionals to encourage telemedicine participation (Attachment 12).
Proponents written:
The following provided written testimony in support of HB2512:
Dr. Leo Herman, President Elect, Kansas Association of Master's in Psychology (Attachment 13);
Cindy Luxem, President/CEO, Kansas Health Care Association/Kansas Center for Assisted Living (Attachment 14);
Shalae Harris RN, Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs, South Central Region, March of Dimes (Attachment 15):
Laura Evans, State Government Affairs Manager, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (Attachment 16);
Andrew Secor, President Elect, Kansas Counseling Association (Attachment 17);
Daphne Bascom, MD, PhD, Medical Director, YMCA of Greater Kansas City for Kansas State Alliance of YMCAs (Attachment 18);
Shawna Wright, Licensed Psychologist, Independent Telepsychology Practice, Southeast Kansas (Attachment 19);
Judy Davis-Cole, Member, AARP Kansas Executive Council (Attachment 20).
Opponents written:
Opponent written testimony was provided by the following:
Brandi Fisher, Executive Director, MainStream Coalition (Attachment 21);
Matthew P. Connell, Chair, Coordinating Council on Early Childhood Developmental Services (Attachment 22);
Vinesh Ganapahy, Policy Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas (Attachment 23).
Neutral written:
Neutral written testimony was provided by the following:
Cameron Kilberg, Kilberg Consulting, Presence Learning (Attachment 24);
Janine Gracy, Project Director, Heartland Telehealth Resource Center (Attachment 25);
Alexa Foster, President, Tiny K Alliance (Attachment 26);
Rachel Monger, Vice President Government Affairs, LeadingAge (Attachment 27);
Todd Fleischer, Executive Director, Kansas Optometric Association (Attachment 28);
Jeanne Gawdun, Lobbyist, Kansans for Life (Attachment 29).
Chairperson Hawkins closed the hearing on HB2512.
After all the conferees presented their testimony and the Chairperson called attention to the written testimony, he closed the hearing on HB2512.
