South Dakota § 58-17-168 - Coverage for health care services provided through telehealth.

§ 58-17-168. Coverage for health care services provided through telehealth.

No health insurer may exclude a service for coverage solely because the service is provided through telehealth and not provided through in-person consultation or contact between a health care professional and a patient. Health care services delivered by telehealth must be appropriate and delivered in accordance with applicable law and generally accepted health care practices and standards prevailing at the time the health care services are provided, including rules adopted by the appropriate professional licensing board having oversight of the health care professional providing the health care services. Health insurers are not required to provide coverage for health care services that are not medically necessary.

This section does not:

(1)    Prohibit a health insurer from establishing criteria that a health care professional must meet to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of delivering a particular health care service via telehealth that the health insurer does not already reimburse other health care professionals for delivering via telehealth so long as the criteria are not unduly burdensome or unreasonable for the particular services;

(2)    Prevent a health insurer from requiring a health care professional to agree to certain documentation or billing practices designed to protect the health insurer or patients from fraudulent claims so long as the practices are not unduly burdensome or unreasonable for the particular services; or

(3)    Prevent a health insurer from including a deductible, copayment, or coinsurance requirement for a health care service provided via telehealth, if the deductible, copayment, or coinsurance is not in addition to and does not exceed the deductible, copayment, or coinsurance applicable if the same services were provided through in-person contact.

Source: SL 2019, ch 211, § 2.