MONTANA TELEMEDICINE LAW
Parity Law
Montana’s private insurance parity law was enacted in 2013 and includes coverage for state employee health plans. This means private payers and state employee health plans must cover telemedicine!
Type of Telemedicine Covered
In the state of Montana, private payers are required to provide coverage for services delivered through live video and store-and-forward telemedicine, equivalent to in-person coverage.
Montana Medicaid will reimburse for live video services, as long as the healthcare provider is enrolled in Medicaid. Montana’s Medicaid program does not cover remote monitoring services, or medical services via email, fax or phone.
Covered Health Services
Montana does not have policies regulating the types of telehealth services eligible for reimbursement.
Eligible Healthcare Providers
Montana regulates specific locations where a provider must be, but does not make mention of the type of healthcare provider.
Online Prescriptions
Montana has no laws prohibiting or regulating online prescriptions.
Informed Patient Consent
Montana does not have any guidelines for getting telemedicine-specific patient consent. However, we recommend this anyway as a telemedicine best practice. You can find the recommended patient consent form here.
Interstate Medical Licensing
Providers practicing telemedicine with patients in Montana are required to have a full Montana license.
Montana is also one of the few states to join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact! The compact allows physicians to go through an expedited process to get licensed in other states that have also joined the compact. In other words, it’ll make it much easier to provide telemedicine to patient in other states! You can read more about it here.
Restrictions on Locations
According to Montana’s Medicaid program, the provider delivering the telemedicine service needs to be located at one of the following places:
Critical access hospital
Hospice
Hospital
Long-term care facility
Mental health center
Outpatient center for primary care
Outpatient center for surgical services
Physician – Patient Relationship
Montana has no policies requiring telemedicine providers to have an existing relationship with patients (though telemedicine can be used to establish a relationship).
Reimbursement Rates
Reimbursement rates for telemedicine must be equivalent to in-person care rates for private payers.
Helpful Resources
Center for Connected Health Policy – Montana Page
Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center