The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) released an update to two state policy reports which identify gaps in coverage and reimbursement, and physician practice standards and licensure.

“After ATA issued the State Telemedicine Gaps Reports last September, many state regulating bodies responded by looking at how their laws and regulations impact healthcare delivery in their state,” said Jonathan Linkous, CEO of ATA. “As a result of state actions across the nation, ATA reevaluated the indicators for each state and issued new reports. As before, we anticipate that these reports will serve as an incentive to increase the utilization of telemedicine to improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of healthcare.”

The Coverage and Reimbursement Report compares telemedicine adoption based on 13 indicators. Since the initial report was released in September 2014, five states and the District of Columbia have maintained the highest possible composite score suggesting a supportive policy landscape that encourages telemedicine adoption (Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Virginia), while Maryland and Mississippi have dropped from an “A” to “B” as a result of additional restrictions being placed on telehealth coverage under their Medicaid plans. States receiving the lowest possible composite score include Connecticut and Rhode Island.

On the other hand, the Physician Standards and Licensure Report reviews state laws and medical board standards in each state. It revealed some variance from the initial report issued in September. With policy changes made to accommodate out-of-state physician-to-physician consultations via telemedicine, Massachusetts was the only state to improve to an “A”. 22 states received the highest possible composite score and suggests that an extremely supportive policy landscape exists in these states which accommodates telemedicine adoption and usage. These states include: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The District of Columbia, Idaho, and West Virginia have dropped from an “A” to “B” due to the creation of new telemedicine clinical practice policies in their states. Texas joins Alabama as the only states with the lowest composite score “C” due to revised telemedicine clinical practice policies in their state.

Both reports can be downloaded from here.