A persistent question remains in telemedicine: What telehealth duties may be delegated legally by licensed providers to other health professionals — especially unlicensed professionals such as medical assistants? This session will equip attendees to answer this question and present the answer to clinical and managerial colleagues. The presenter will explain in understandable terms how state laws delineate tasks — including telehealth tasks — that are (and are not) delegable to medical assistants, along with providing detail on how to find the medical assisting laws of all U.S. jurisdictions. He will then present the legal principles that directly determine legally allowable telehealth tasks for medical assistants. Because medical assisting scope of practice is difficult to understand (especially the delegability of telehealth tasks), and because relentless cost pressures are leading healthcare providers and their managers to maximize delegation to competent medical assistants, attendees will be requested to ask questions after every main point and at any time during the session.
Learning Objectives:
Review the legal analysis for determining telehealth tasks delegable to medical assistants
Recognize medical assistants as ideal telehealth professionals because they are licensed in few states with minimal issues of scope of practice across state lines
Identify additional legal facts involving medical assistants, such as scope of practice depending on whether the provider is a physician, nurse practitioner or PA
.jpg "Donald A. Balasa, JD, MBA (he/him/his) photo")