Amends TCA Title 56, Chapter 7.

The present law provisions governing telehealth require, among other things, a health insurance entity to provide coverage under a health insurance policy or contract for covered healthcare services delivered through telehealth. Requirements for coverage of telehealth include that the provider or patient must be at a qualified site as defined by present law. Also, under present law, an audio-only conversation is not considered telehealth. Present law defines "qualified site" as the office of a healthcare services provider, a hospital, a facility recognized as a rural health clinic under federal Medicare regulations, a federally qualified health center, a facility under the mental health and substance abuse services laws, or any other location deemed acceptable by the health insurance entity. This bill, for the purpose of behavioral health services being provided via telehealth: (1) Adds the patient's home or a remote location chosen by the patient as a "qualified site"; and (2) Allows for the provision of such services by audio-conversation only when real-time, interactive audio, video telecommunications or electronic technology required by present law is not available. ON MARCH 22, 2021, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 429, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 rewrites this bill to authorize the use of HIPAA-compliant audio-only conversation when providing behavioral health provider-based telemedicine services if HIPPA-complaint real-time, interactive audio, video telecommunications, or electronic technology, or store-and-forward telemedicine services are unavailable. Present law generally excludes audio-only conversation from the definition of "provider-based telemedicine".