Texan Business Leaders Call for Fewer Restrictions on Telemedicine

The Texas Association of Business—the state’s chamber of commerce, essentially—is pushing lawmakers to come up with a bill that would allow more patients to use telemedicine. The TAB says the move is necessary after a decade of rising healthcare premiums and deductibles, which has increased the burden both on its members and their employees. Loosening restrictions on telemedicine has seen opposition from the physician-led Texas Medical Board, whose efforts have seen to it that the Lone Star State has some of the toughest rules against remote doctor visits in the nation. The TAB insists phone/video exams would save both time and money for workers who may not otherwise get to see a doctor at all.