1. (1) As used in this section:

   1. (a)

      1. (A) “Audio only” means the use of audio telephone technology, permitting real-time communication between a health care provider and a patient for the purpose of diagnosis, consultation or treatment.

      2. (B) “Audio only” does not include:

         1. (i) The use of facsimile, electronic mail or text messages.
         2. (ii) The delivery of health services that are customarily delivered by audio telephone technology and customarily not billed as separate services by a health care provider, such as the sharing of laboratory results.
   2. (b) “Telemedicine” means the mode of delivering health services using information and telecommunication technologies to provide consultation and education or to facilitate diagnosis, treatment, care management or self-management of a patient’s health care.

2. (2) To encourage the efficient use of resources and to promote cost-effective procedures in accordance with ORS 413.011 (1)(L), the Oregon Health Authority shall reimburse the cost of health services delivered using telemedicine, including but not limited to:

   1. (a) Health services transmitted via landlines, wireless communications, the Internet and telephone networks;
   2. (b) Synchronous or asynchronous transmissions using audio only, video only, audio and video and transmission of data from remote monitoring devices; and
   3. (c) Communications between providers or between one or more providers and one or more patients, family members, caregivers or guardians.

3. (3)

   1. (a) The authority shall pay the same reimbursement for a health service regardless of whether the service is provided in person or using any permissible telemedicine application or technology.
   2. (b) Paragraph (a) of this subsection does not prohibit the use of value-based payment methods, including global budgets or capitated, bundled, risk-based or other value-based payment methods, and does not require that any value-based payment method reimburse telemedicine health services based on an equivalent fee-for-service rate.
4. (4) The authority shall include the costs of telemedicine services in its rate assumptions for payments made to clinics or other providers on a prepaid capitated basis.
5. (5) This section does not require the authority or a coordinated care organization to pay a provider for a service that is not included within the Healthcare Procedure Coding System or the American Medical Association’s Current Procedural Terminology codes.
6. (6) The authority shall adopt rules to ensure that coordinated care organizations reimburse the cost of health services delivered using telemedicine, consistent with subsections (2) and (3) of this section.

Note: 414.723 was added to and made a part of ORS chapter 414 by legislative action but was not added to any smaller series therein. See Preface to Oregon Revised Statutes for further explanation.

[2021 c.117 §2]