CALIFORNIA TELEMEDICINE LAWS INFORMATION

California Medical Marijuana Telemedicine Laws

Most states require an in-person doctor visit and in office examination to establish a solid patient – physician relationship. In fact, there are only five states that will allow you to visit a doctor through telemedicine, and California is one of them. However in most states, if your medical condition requires any controlled substances for proper treatment, you will have to show up in person for that. All five of the states that allow telemedicine, including Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut, only allow telemedicine for conditions that do not require controlled substances to be prescribed. Patients must be evaluated by a doctor to obtain a California medical marijuana card according to the California tele-health laws that regulate the onlie 420 evaluations.

The Door Opens for Online Medical Marijuana Care

Under Division 2 of California’s Healing Arts statute, physicians, dentists, occupational therapist, chiropractors, speech pathologist, registered dietitians, nurses, and licensed midwives, (or better stated almost every type of healthcare professional) may legally provide telemedicine (remote) care to patients. Also, under California regulations, healthcare professionals are permitted to use any means necessary to treat a patient. This includes fax, email, secure messaging, remote patient monitoring, videoconferencing, and telephonic communications. MMJ Card take place within the California medical marijuana program.

As for California’s Chapter 404, medical practitioners and professionals that provide telemedicine services to patients, are required to gain the patient’s written consent, or verbal informed consent before they can see them. Likewise, out-of-state healthcare practitioners and professionals have the same rights to see California residents, but they must first obtain a valid medical license. The California Medical Board is stern on their policies, but some P2P (physician to physician) exemptions apply. California is one of the 16 states currently accepting informed consent policies for telemedicine in the United States, and that number is currently growing due to medical limitations that prevent patients from making it to a doctor visit, as well as simple human rights. This chapter also makes reference to anyone under jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and rehabilitation or any other correctional facility, stating that the law does not apply to them.

Remote Loophole in the Medical Marijuana Laws of California

A new law that impacts California’s medical marijuana licensing – in January 2016, California passed a new law that impacts doctors who prescribe and make recommendations for the use of medical marijuana. More directly, the law states that the dispensing furnishing prescribing or causing to be prescribed, furnished or dispensed (as in a recommendation) of dangerous drugs or devices on the Internet without appropriate prior examination is illegal.

What this means for the state of California is that it’s basically a loophole for now. There are expected to be revisions or additions to the law to make a more clear definition of what they mean by “appropriate prior examination”. For now, many doctors and healthcare professionals continue practicing because the law could easily be interpreted as simply stating that the examinations have to be thorough, which could just as easily be done via telemedicine methods.

Physicians still have to be licensed in the state of California to be able to carry out their duties related to practicing medicine, regardless of whether they do face-to-face or telemedicine examinations. Physicians are still required to keep the patient medical information perfectly private as well.

For Now We Have a Choice.

Patients for the most part in California remain to have a choice of seeing a California medical marijuana doctor in person or on demand, via the telemedicine portal based on the California medical marijuana qualifications.

There are websites, such as the HappyMDOnline . com, that have set up a fully integrated, e-visit patient and physician medical marijuana telemedicine portal. The portal allows you to rope remotely connect with a qualified and licensed my medical marijuana doctor on demand in real time, via a secure online platform. The doctors have followings on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as well as on Google plus, and it is now easier than ever to get your medical marijuana card! Patients can learn how to qualify for medical marijuana in the Golden State of California, get an online 420 evaluations in California by a licensed doctor, get a California medical marijuana card, then visit a local medical marijuana dispensaries per convenience and choice.