Using Medical Marijuana Telemedicine Services in Nevada

Rules governing telemedicine in Nevada for prescribing medical marijuana are changing. Patients interested in getting a medical marijuana evaluation conducted in the privacy of their own home or location of their choosing can access it via a secure real-time, live-video connection here: https://www.marijuanadoctors.com/medical-marijuana-doctors/medical-marijuana-telemedicine-portal/

Nevada Medical Marijuana Program: Telemedicine

The Nevada Legislature passed Assembly Bill 292 (Chapter 153, Statutes of Nevada), in 2015, permitting the use of telehealth to facilitate the provision of healthcare services, to improve public health and the quality of health care, by remotely delivering health care services, public health, and health-related education, to patients and physicians. The Nevada Legislature defines “telehealth” as “the delivery of services from a provider of healthcare to a patient at a different location through the use of information and audio-visual communication technology, not including standard telephones, facsimile, or electronic mail.”

Overall, telehealth has the potential, to increase the availability and access to quality health and medical care, to improve overall population health, while lowering the cost of healthcare. Nevada regulation defines telehealth into four brand categories:

• Live video (synchronous service involving real-time two-way interaction via a live stream feed  between different locations);
• Store-and-forward (asynchronous services involving the transmission of recorded health information — i.e. prerecorded video, x-ray, MRI, etc. — via an electronic communications system, non-realtime, to the provider providing the health care service);
• Remote patient monitoring (technology used to collect and monitor, personal or health data from an individual in one location, to a provider at a different geographical location);
• Mobile health (mobile communication technology devices — including tablets, and smartphones — that are used to support the health care, public health, and education, of communities.

Telehealth offers an opportunity for patients, especially those individuals who are situated in rural or underserved areas to receive services conveniently located (i.e. at home, or closer to home), reduce the amount of lost travel and work time, in addition to the associated costs of traveling to and from traditional health care appointments, situated at distant locations.

Nevada regulation requires that, whether providing a diagnosis, treatment order, prescription, or directing/managing a patient’s care, providers must have a valid Nevada medical license/certificate to practice, unless the health care provider is providing services within the spectrum of contract or employment, of an urban Native American organization. All health care services, in-person and telehealth services, must meet all required standards of care, and be within the health providers’ spectrum of practice. Health care providers with a valid license, are subject to all state laws and regulations.

State law requires that Medicaid, and all policies of health or industrial insurances, cover telehealth services to the exact extent, as the equivalent services provided in-person.

On May 27, 2015, Nevada enacted legislation allowing the state to join the Interstate Medical Licensing Compact, expediting a pathway to licensure for qualified physicians, wishing to practice telemedicine in multiple states.

All health care practitioners providing telemedicine services are required to first establish a physician-patient relationship with a patient, prior to providing a diagnosis or treatment — however, telemedicine may be used to satisfy this requirement.