House lawmakers have passed Senate Bill 2738, which would permanently allow physicians in Mississippi to meet with their patients remotely. Prior to the pandemic, telehealth could only be conducted between two health providers. Emergency orders issued throughout the coronavirus pandemic in the state have allowed for patient-to-provider telemedicine, either on the phone or through video calls. Dr. Geri Weiland is President of the Mississippi State Medical Association.
“Mississippians like it, physicians like it, it’s really a way to reach people sometimes when you have no other way to reach them,” says Dr. Weiland. “So what’s happened is that now that the emergency proclamation is over with, if the legislature doesn’t come up with an answer then there won’t be this physician-to-patient available telehealth and we go back to provider-to-provider.”
Telehealth grew rapidly in Mississippi throughout the pandemic. State Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney says from 2019 to 2020, the number of people seeking telehealth grew by 2,400%. He says this allows doctors to reach patients in rural communities, especially in the field of mental health.
“You have people that need counseling and telemedicine is a good provider of counseling methods. And just in Mississippi alone, there were about 500,000 patients with serious mental health issues. And 25% of those issues were triggered during the pandemic. So 125,000 of those patients had the potential to receive life-saving medical treatment.”
Senate Bill 2738 passed the House as amended in committee with a vote of 118 to 4, and is expected to be taken up in conference for further debate.
