Telehealth

Teladoc, Inc., utilizes telecommunication technology to connect physicians and patients 24 hours per day, 365 days per year for a fraction of the cost of a physician’s office, urgent care center, or hospital emergency room. Telehealth services have taken off in recent years and, as a result, Teladoc reached its one millionth “visit” this October. The Texas Medical Board nearly halted its state’s telehealth industry in April of 2015, when it voted to adopt Rule 190.8, prohibiting prescription of any “dangerous drug or controlled substance” without first establishing a “defined physician-patient relationship” which “must include,” in pertinent part, “documenting and performing” a “physical examination that must be performed by either a face-to-face visit or in-person evaluation.” (more…)