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US: Teladoc files antitrust suit against medical board

By  |  April 30, 2015

Telemedicine firm Teladoc has filed a federal antitrust suit against the Texas Medical Board, asking for an injunction against its newly adopted rule that prohibits physicians from treating patients over the telephone without first meeting with them in person or face to face.

“It is clear that the medical board acted only when Teladoc consultations became sufficiently numerous to be perceived as a competitive threat to brick-and-mortar physician practices,” said Jason Gorevic, Teladoc’s chief executive officer, in a news release.

In a news release issued April 14, the board said, “The [new] rules expand opportunities for patients to interact with their physicians beyond the traditional office visit and clarify that a physician-patient relationship can be established through a ‘face-to-face’ visit held either in person or via telemedicine.”

The new rule is scheduled to go into effect June 3.

 

Full content: Houston Chronicle

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