Governor Mike DeWine recently signed Substitute House Bill 122 (Telehealth Services) on December 22, 2021. The new telehealth law, which will become effective on Wednesday, March 23, authorizes the State Medical Board of Ohio (SMBO) to adopt rules necessary to implement it.
Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) member Mark Rood, MD, is representing OAFP and family physicians on a telehealth workgroup designed to bring “boots on the ground” perspective to the SMBO’s efforts to re-write Ohio’s post pandemic telehealth regulations.
The first stakeholder meeting for physicians was hosted by the SMBO and the Ohio State Medical Association on January 28. OAFP Executive Vice President Ann Spicer participated in a telehealth stakeholder meeting on January 27.
The SMBO has made it very clear that the first draft of rules for telehealth and for controlled substance and telehealth prescribing is just a starting point and that several drafts will likely be needed before the rule-making process is completed (will take maybe as much as 6 months). In the meantime, the moratorium on enforcement of current rules, which is presently in effect until Thursday, March 31, will be extended until the entire process for promulgating new rules is complete.