The Kansas Legislature would be wise to look closely at improving insurance reimbursements for telemedicine during the 2018 session.

Some 34 states have laws mandating that insurance plans cover remote delivery of health care services similar to in-person services. It would seem Kansas, which already struggles with rural health care delivery, would benefit from legislation that encourages the expansion of telemedicine services.

Bills mandating equal insurance reimbursement for telemedicine were drafted during the 2017 legislative session, but none made it out of committee. On Friday, a legislative committee that is expected to make a recommendation to the full Legislature on the issue heard debate on telemedicine reimbursement.

A leading advocate for reimbursement legislation is the University of Kansas Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth, based at KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan. For more than 25 years, the center has provided consultations and educational services via the Kansas Telehealth Network, which connects to more than 100 facilities throughout Kansas.

Eve-Lynn Nelson, executive director of the Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth, told the committee that telemedicine can reduce costs. “We believe telehealth, when utilized wisely, can reduce provider practice costs, improve their productivity and facilitate triaging for special care,” she said.

But Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City lobbyist Coni Fries argued telemedicine delivery is not as costly as in-person patient care and should not be reimbursed at the same level. Doing so, she said, would drive up insurance payments, thus negating the very efficiencies telemedicine is trying to achieve. She also said in-person diagnosis and treatment fosters an ongoing physician-patient relationship that often doesn’t exist in telemedicine.

In 2015, the University of Kansas School of Medicine issued a report showing that Kansas ranked 39th of 50 states in terms of the number of doctors per capita, and that the state wasn’t producing enough doctors to maintain that level, much less get Kansas to the national average.

In an environment of increasing physician shortages, especially in rural areas, telemedicine is likely to become increasingly critical to the state. Part of making such a system work is making sure that insurance reimbursement for telemedicine services is treated fairly in relation to in-person services. It’s an issue that legislators would be wise to tackle in 2018.