ALABAMA TELEMEDICINE LAW
Alabama continues to pave the way to broader telemedicine coverage. Although Alabama does not yet have a telemedicine parity law in place (parity laws require private payers to reimburse for telemedicine services), Alabama’s Medicaid program covers a wide range of medical services delivered via live video.
Alabama was also one of the first states to join an interstate medical licensing compact, that will allow physicians to consult out-of-state patients via telemedicine. That’s an exciting leap forward for providers in Alabama!
A spin-off of Alabama’s successful Patient 1st medical home model also uses home health nurses employed by the Department of Health to remotely monitor vital signs for patients with diabetes, hypertension, and congestive heart disease.
Ready to find out more about Alabama’s telemedicine policy? Check out our state guide below!
Parity Law
Telemedicine parity laws require that private payers reimburse telemedicine services the same way they would in-person medical services. Alabama currently has no parity law, and has not put forth any telemedicine legislation in over two years. Call your legislators and advocate for telemedicine!
Type of Telemedicine Covered
Alabama Medicaid reimburses for live video, and will reimburse remote patient monitoring through the In-Home Monitoring Program.
Covered Health Services
Alabama Medicaid reimburses for live video telemedicine for the following services:
Medical Consults
Office or other outpatient visits
Individual psychotherapy
Psychiatric diagnostic services
Neurobehavioral status exams
For all telemedicine services, an appropriately trained staff member or employee familiar with the patient or the treatment plan must be immediately available in person to the patient.
Under the Alabama Medicaid In-Home Monitoring Program, patients with the following medical conditions can get treatment via telemedicine:
Diabetes
Congestive Heart Failure
Billing Codes
Not sure how to bill for telemedicine? No problem. Alabama Medicaid covers telemedicine visits for the following CPT codes:
Consultations (99241-99245, 99251-99255)
Office or other outpatient visits (99201-99205, 99211-99215)
Individual psychotherapy (90804-90809)
Psychiatric diagnostic (90801)
Neurobehavioral status exam (96116)
Remember to use your GT modifier! Alabama Medicaid requires you to use the appropriate CPT code along with the modifier GT, which stands for interactive audio and video telecommunications system.
Want more details? Check out the Alabama Medicaid Handbook.
Eligible Healthcare Providers
Not all healthcare providers can do telemedicine under Alabama Medicaid. Here’s the list of the eligible providers:
Physicians
Nurse Practitioners
Physician Assistants
Clinical Nurses
Clinical Psychologists
Also, Medicaid requires physicians to enroll with the specialty of 931 (telemedicine). If you’re interested in doing telemedicine with your Medicaid patients, submit this form to Alabama Medicaid.
Online Prescriptions
While the state of Alabama has no specific stated restrictions around prescribing based on telemedicine visits, state law says “prescribing drugs to an individual the prescriber has not personally examined is usually inappropriate.”
Before prescribing a drug, the physician should make an informed medical judgment. Ordinarily, this will require that the physician personally perform an appropriate history and physical exam, make a diagnosis, and formulate a therapeutic plan, which might include a prescription.
Informed Patient Consent
The state of Alabama requires providers to get a patient’s written informed consent before doing the first telemedicine visit. Read more about informed patient consent here.
Interstate Telemedicine Licensing
In May 2015, Alabama joined an interstate medical licensing compact. The compact will help reduce redundant licensing requirements across states and will allow physicians to consult patients via telemedicine outside their state lines. To find out how the compact works, visit www.licenseportability.org.
Restrictions on Locations
Luckily, Alabama doesn’t place many restrictions on where the patient and physician need to be located for the telemedicine visit. However, for rehabilitative services specifically, the originating site (where the patient is) must be:
Physician’s office
Hospital
Critical Access Hospital
Rural Health Clinic
Federally Qualified Health Center
Community mental health center (to include co-located sites with partnering agencies)
Public health department
Helpful Resources
Center for Connected Health Policy – Alabama State Page
Alabama Medicaid Telemedicine Handbook
The American Telemedicine Association State Policy Matrix