State Telemedicine Policy Information
Healthcare Legislation Is Complex, We Can Help.
Oklahoma Telemedicine Policy
Oklahoma Telemedicine Policy
Oklahoma’s policies have distinct advantages for telemedicine providers. The state’s telehealth parity law has been in place for a long time, which is good news for physicians–fewer kinks to work out!
Oklahoma state is unique in that it provides the internet technology for telemedicine, at no cost, to not-for-profit hospitals, county health departments, city-county health departments, and Federally Qualified Health Centers. Oklahoma’s SoonerCare also reimburses for many different health services, including speech-language pathology and mental health services.
State Policy Overview
Medicaid
Yes
Private Payer
Yes
Parity
Yes
Additional State Telemedicine Info
Parity Laws
Oklahoma was an early adopter of telemedicine! The state has had a parity law since 1997. The law requires telemedicine coverage by Medicaid managed care, workers’ compensation programs, disability insurer programs, and health care service plans.
Medicaid
Oklahoma’s Medicaid program, SoonerCare, reimburses for live video telemedicine for a range of medical services, such as evaluative and management, nutrition therapy, neonatal, speech-language pathology, and behavioral health services. The state recently expanded its coverage of telehealth by removing past restrictions on eligible patient locations and geography restrictions.
Type Of Telemedicine Covered
SoonerCare, Oklahoma’s Medicaid program, reimburses for live video if the health care provider determines the service can be appropriately provided via telemedicine. At this time, store-and-forward and remote patient monitoring solutions are not yet covered. However, the state has proposed legislation to consider these expansions for Medicaid.
Covered Health Services
Oklahoma SoonerCare reimburses for the following health services when completed via live video:
- Medical Evaluative and Management
- Medical Nutrition Therapy Services
- Neonatal
- Speech and Language Pathology
- Psychiatric Evaluative and Management
- Individual Practitioner Psychotherapy
- Outpatient Behavioral Health Services
The agency may cover additional medical services, but these are the ones explicitly stated on the department Telehealth page.
Eligible Healthcare Providers
While Oklahoma law does not specify which providers can practice telemedicine, SoonerCare will reimburse the following healthcare practitioners:
- Physicians
- Advanced registered nurse practitioners
- Physician assistants
- Neonatologists
- Genetic counselors
- Licensed behavioral health professionals
- Dieticians
- Speech-language pathologists
- Psychiatrists
- A certified mobile crisis team
- Additional behavioral specialists
Online Prescriptions
Oklahoma requires a physician-patient relationship in order to prescribe via telemedicine.
Informed Patient Consent
Written patient consent is required prior to the delivery of any telemedicine services.
Cross-State Telemedicine Licensing
Practicing medicine in Oklahoma requires a full Oklahoma medical license, except in cases of P2P (physician to physician) consultation. Unfortunately, Oklahoma is not yet part of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which helps to facilitate the medical licensing process for out-of-state providers.
Restrictions On Locations
Oklahoma Medicaid recently lifted its requirement that patients receiving telehealth services must be located in an underserved area. The agency also got rid of its originating site (patient’s location at time of visit) requirements. Additionally, it says that patients are now allowed to receive telehealth services from out-of-state providers when medically necessary.
Reimbursement Rates
Thanks to Oklahoma’s telemedicine policies, reimbursement rates for telemedicine are equal to those for in-person care.
Billing Codes
Luckily, Oklahoma SoonerCare has a few handy billing cheatsheets for Medicaid providers interested in telemedicine! You can find the full list of appropriate CPT codes at this website. Additionally, the agency now reimburses for virtual visits with codes 99444 and 98969.