PART 4 OF 4: Building a Telehealth Compliance Program

A practical checklist for standing up compliant remote care.

The requirements that govern California telehealth are most manageable when they are built into the practice's standard operations rather than addressed encounter by encounter. This post consolidates the requirements into a working compliance checklist for a California telehealth practice.

Licensure and provider readiness

• Confirm provider licensure in every state where patients are located.

• Establish protocols for verifying patient identity and physical location at each visit.

• Define which encounters are clinically appropriate for telehealth.

Consent and documentation

• Adopt a telehealth informed-consent process and document consent in every record.

• Standardize documentation to capture modality, patient location, and clinical rationale.

Privacy and technology

• Use a HIPAA-compliant, encrypted platform covered by a business associate agreement.

• Account for California's stricter privacy laws, including CMIA obligations.

• Set policies for private settings and for any recording and storage of visits.

Prescribing, payment, and structure

• Adopt prescribing protocols, with special care for controlled substances under current law.

• Verify payer coverage, coding, and reimbursement requirements for each service.

• Confirm the practice's ownership and management structure complies with the Corporate Practice of Medicine doctrine.

• Bring platform vendors and multi-state operations within the compliance framework.

How West Coast Health Law Can Help

We help California practices design and implement telehealth compliance programs — from licensure and consent through privacy, prescribing, reimbursement, and practice structure. If you are launching or expanding telehealth services, we can help you build it on a compliant foundation.

West Coast Health Law offers a FREE consultation which you may schedule by clicking the button on our website.

This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change and every situation is different; consult a qualified attorney about your specific circumstances.