Report Gives New Jersey Low Marks For Telehealth

By Christian Wade | The Center Square contributor, The Center Square New Jersey

February 19, 2023

(The Center Square) — Telehealth was crucial to New Jersey's pandemic response, helping hospitals and health care providers respond to a surge in COVID-19 cases while continuing to care for patients' other medical needs. But the Garden State hasn't followed others in making those emergency regulations a permanent part of the health care system.

That's according to a new report by the Pioneer Institute and Reason Foundation, which looked at telehealth policies in 50 states and graded them in four key areas the researchers said are crucial to patients, quality of care, and creating a regulatory environment that doesn’t stifle health care improvements.

New Jersey was among three states — including South Carolina and Virginia — which failed to get good marks in all the four categories the report's authors said are critical to the development of telehealth services.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal agencies made select changes to the Medicare program, and governors in nearly all 50 states expanded access with flexible provider licensure for new telehealth uses. "But when state public health emergency declarations ended, and executive orders were withdrawn, many of the new flexibilities were lost," they noted.

Overall, the report found a "surprising lack of urgency" among states to update their laws to incorporate telehealth services with state and federal pandemic regulations set to expire.

Josh Archambault, a senior fellow at the Cicero Institute and Pioneer Institute and co-author of the brief, said most states have only made "minor tweaks" to their telehealth laws.

“Lawmakers must refocus their efforts to ensure their states have clear laws and guidelines in place so that patients and providers can benefit from today’s telehealth services and future innovations," he said. "Immediate action will be needed to avoid disrupting patient access to providers they gained during COVID as other options may not exist in their community."

Specifically, the report's authors looked at four key areas of telehealth:

Defining telehealth in broad terms that do not favor one type of telehealth model, giving patients options and leaving room for future innovations.

Allowing "modal neutrality" so telehealth services can be provided via audio, video, text, email, and modes of communication.

Giving patients access to telehealth services and doctors across state lines.

Allowing doctors, nurse practitioners, and others to provide all of the medical services they’re trained to provide using telehealth services.

"New Jersey failed to get good rankings in all four categories," the report’s authors found. The state got a "red" mark for lacking a policy allowing the services to be used across state lines.

By contrast, Arizona and Delaware stood out as the only two states rated "green" for good standings in all four key telehealth law categories, according to the report.

The report's authors said research has shown telehealth is popular among patients, and states need to catch up with policies to make those services permanent.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, patients discovered and utilized a variety of telehealth options that offered flexible, affordable, and high-quality care, and those options shouldn’t be taken away,” Vittorio Nastasi, a policy analyst at Reason Foundation and co-author noted. "States need to improve their laws so patients have as many quality care options as possible and the future health care system can become more patient-centric."

The focus of the work of The Center Square New Jersey is state and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility.