RSB/1/18
Sponsored by Malvika Rao, Avantika Pillai of Ravenwood High School
This legislation was filed in the Economic and Community Development category
Presented as part of the YIG Volunteer 2024 conference
| 1 | BE IT ENACTED BY THE TENNESSEE YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Section 1: Terms in this act will be defined as follows: |
| 4 | Broadband Infrastructure: The physical network of cables, fiber optics, and other equipment |
| 5 | necessary for high-speed internet access. |
| 6 | Healthcare Provider: A licensed medical professional or entity authorized to provide healthcare |
| 7 | services in Tennessee. |
| 8 | Licensing Reciprocity: Recognition of healthcare licenses issued by other states, allowing |
| 9 | healthcare providers to practice in Tennessee without additional licensure requirements. |
| 10 | Medicaid: A federal government program that provides health insurance coverage to low-income |
| 11 | individuals and families |
| 12 | Patient: An individual seeking healthcare services. |
| 13 | Telehealth Services: The delivery of healthcare services remotely via telecommunications |
| 14 | technology. |
| 15 | Virtual Visit: A healthcare consultation conducted via video conferencing or other |
| 16 | telecommunication methods. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Section 2: If enacted, this bill would support reimbursement for virtual visits and investment in |
| 19 | broadband infrastructure, as well as establish a system of licensing healthcare providers. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Section 3: This bill mandates insurance companies and Medicaid to reimburse healthcare providers |
| 22 | for virtual visits at the same rate as in-person visits. This will encourage healthcare providers to |
| 23 | embrace telehealth as a viable and sustainable model of care delivery. Additionally, clinics are |
| 24 | currently heavily limited in the number of patients they can handle by geographical distances. |
| 25 | Because the inclusion of telehealth services will increase the number of patients a clinic can reach, |
| 26 | healthcare providers will be incentivized to invest in telemedicine infrastructure, train their staff, |
| 27 | and expand their capacity to deliver remote healthcare services. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | Section 4: Additionally, this bill allocates funds to promote the expansion of broadband |
| 30 | infrastructure across rural and underserved areas of Tennessee, ensuring reliable internet access |
| 31 | for telehealth services. Rural access is key to the success of telehealth programs and also ensures |
| 32 | that the program can help as many people as possible. Further information on the exact funding |
| 33 | and allocation of resources can be found in section 6. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | Section 5: Finally, this bill would establish a system of licensing reciprocity for healthcare |
| 36 | providers, recognizing licenses issued by other states and allowing qualified professionals to |
| 37 | practice in Tennessee without redundant licensure requirements. These regulations would be |
| 38 | |
| 39 | Section 5a: Healthcare providers with valid licenses issued by other states will be allowed to apply |
| 40 | for reciprocity in Tennessee. |
| 41 | Section 5b: The Tennessee Department of Health and relevant licensing boards oversee the |
| 42 | process of licensing reciprocity to ensure that these professionals fulfill education, training, and |
| 43 | examination requirements. |
| 44 | Section 5c: Qualified professionals are allowed to practice in Tennessee without needing to fulfill |
| 45 | redundant licensure requirements or go through extensive training, testing, or certification. This |
| 46 | streamlines the process for out-of-state healthcare providers to work in Tennessee. |
| 47 | |
| 48 | Section 6: This bill will require $50 million through the Tennessee Department of Economic and |
| 49 | Community Development. While this amount is certainly not enough to cover the entire state of |
| 50 | Tennessee, this bill aims to promote the expansion of broadband infrastructure to ensure that |
| 51 | telehealth services are beneficial rather than to fully fund the construction of broadband |
| 52 | infrastructure all across the state. |
| 53 | |
| 54 | Section 7: All laws or parts of laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. |
| 55 | |
| 56 | Section 8: This bill will go into effect 6 months after passing, the public welfare requiring it. |
| 57 |