20 FAQs For Telemedicine Providers In Ohio

The Ohio Medical Board just published new FAQs and guidance on practicing via telemedicine, addressed to Ohio physicians and physician assistants. The FAQs follow the Ohio rules for telemedicine prescribing of drugs and controlled substances adopted by the Board in March 2017. The guidance should be welcome news to providers who deliver healthcare services via telemedicine. Although frequently referred to as the "telemedicine prescribing" rule, the regulation applies in all situations where the physician or physician assistant is in one location and the patient is in another and the physician or physician assistant has never personally examined the patient.

Ohio Telemedicine FAQs

The guidance also includes the following FAQs:

Why does this FAQ include physician assistants in the questions and answers when the language of the rule only states "physician?" The rule is applicable to physician assistants because Rule 4730-1-06, Ohio Administrative Code, states that all rules in Chapter 4731-11 of the Ohio Administrative Code are applicable to physician assistants. In addition, Section 4730.42, Ohio Revised Code, provides that a supervising physician shall not grant physician-delegated prescriptive authority to a physician assistant in a manner that exceeds the supervising physician's prescriptive authority.

What is meant by the term "healthcare provider?" A "healthcare provider" is a licensed individual acting within the scope of their professional license. The term includes advanced practice nurses and physician assistants who hold prescriptive authority.

When the patient is remote from the physician or physician assistant, does an "evaluation" require the use of devices that allow there to be a visual connection with the patient? No.

Is there a difference between prescribing controlled medications versus non-controlled medications to a patient under Rule 4731-11-09? Yes, controlled substance (or Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] scheduled) medications can only be prescribed via the procedures outlined in Rule 4731-11-09(D). Non-controlled medications can only be prescribed by following the procedures in Rule 4731-11-09(C).

Are there any situations in which the physician or physician assistant can prescribe a controlled substance medication to a patient who is not in the same location as the physician or physician assistant, even though the physician or physician assistant has never conducted a physical examination of the patient? Yes, paragraph (D) of the rule lists the situations in federal law that authorize an Ohio prescriber to prescribe a controlled substance to a patient whom they have not personally examined and who is at a different location than the prescriber, as follows:

When providing on-call or cross coverage for a physician or other appropriately licensed healthcare practitioner who has the patient as an active patient and all of...