The ERISA Industry Committee comments as Board nears new rulemaking impacting workers
For Immediate Release
Washington, DC – The business group representing the employee benefits interests of large employers is today urging the Arkansas State Medical Board (ASMB) to adopt four standards as it moves to impose new telemedicine regulations.
The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), the only national trade association advocating solely for the employee benefit and compensation interests of America’s largest employers in the U.S., petitioned the ASMB’s Telemedicine Advisory Committee.
In a letter, ERIC recommends the Board adopt regulations that allow for a variety of technological solutions, limit additional requirements on providers, avoid restrictions that lock patients into visiting only certain sites for medical services, and make rules patient-centric, giving patients expanded access to care through telemedicine visits and remote monitoring of their health conditions.
“For patients from the Ozarks to the underserved neighborhoods in Little Rock, we believe telemedicine offers great promise expanding access to care and treatment. We urge the Arkansas State Medical Board to knock down restrictive barriers to quality care for all patients,” says Annette Guarisco Fildes, president and CEO of ERIC.
She adds that, “telemedicine provides a bridge so that working families can more easily attend to their important medical needs, or those of a loved one, while also minimizing time spent away from work.”