FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Rep. Mark B. Cohen D-Philadelphia www.pahouse.com/cohen

Cohen lauds DPW expansion of telemedicine 

HARRISBURG, May 24 – State Rep. Mark Cohen said he is pleased to see this week's announcement by the Corbett administration that the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare will begin using telemedicine to improve access to health care for state residents on Medical Assistance.

"Telemedicine allows patients to have access to additional medical professionals who otherwise might not have been available by using interactive audio and video equipment between the patient and physician," Cohen said.

Cohen said he's glad to see the administration finally come around to embracing telemedicine because he has been pushing the concept for years.

Two pieces of legislation dealing with telemedicine that Cohen introduced early last year – H.B. 223 and H.B. 238 – have seen no action by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

The first would require health insurance to cover telemedicine services and the second would require the state's Medical Assistance program to cover telemedicine services.

According to the Corbett administration, to expand the use of telemedicine, the following changes have been made to the Medical Assistance program:

· Establish the use of real-time interactive technology, such as audio and video equipment as a method of delivering consultation services;

· Consultations can now occur between all physician specialists like cardiologists, obstetricians or neurologists;

· Remove the requirement that telemedicine consultations can only be performed with participation from the referring physician.