Illinois enacts dentistry and physical therapy telehealth legislation

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker approved bills on August 9, 2024 establishing telehealth standards for dentistry and physical therapy services.   

Teledentistry (PA 103-0902)

Public Act 103-0902 (Senate Bill 2586) added teledentistry Section 17.2 (225 ILCS 25/17.2) to the Illinois Dental Practice Act, revised and added related definitions, and amended the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to make violation of Section 17.2 an unlawful practice under that Act.

New Section 17.2 states that dentists practicing through teledentistry are subject to the same standard of care and practice standards that apply to dental services in a clinic or office setting and to supervision requirements for in-person care. This section sets forth the following requirements and limitations for teledentistry:

• teledentistry is limited to patients of record
• the dentist is required to obtain informed consent (as newly defined) from the patient before providing teledentistry services
• the dentist is required to provide the patient with the dentist’s name, direct telephone number and physical practice address
• teledentistry providers are prohibited from requiring a patient to sign any agreement limiting the patient’s ability to write a review of services or file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) or other regulatory agency
• a dentist is allowed to provide emergent care or conduct an initial consultation through teledentistry to treat or assess a patient of record for acute pain, infection, injury or intraoral or perioral condition that presents immediate harm or discomfort for which treatment cannot be postponed, in which case the patient must be directed to receive appropriate in-person care after the teledentistry services are provided.

Section 17.2 defines “patient of record” for teledentistry as a patient for whom his or her most recent Illinois-licensed dentist has obtained a relevant medical and dental history and on whom the dentist has satisfied any of the following:

• performed a physical examination within the last year;
• obtained relevant records appropriate for the type of teledentistry and from an in-person examination within the previous 12 months, including the patient’s most recent x-rays; or
• established a relationship with the patient through an exchange of protected health information for the purpose of providing emergency care, treatment or services.

With regard to services other than telehealth PA 103-0902 revised the “patient of record” definition to require that the patient’s most recent dentist perform a physical examination within the last year, including a review of the patient’s most recent x-rays.

This legislation added a subsection to the public health dental hygienist supervision section stating that a prior physical examination by a dentist is not required if the public health dental hygienist consults with the supervising dentist prior to performing the teledentistry service.

PA 103-0902 also added a definition of “informed consent” and revised the “teledentistry” definition.

PA 103-0902 took effect on August 9, 2024, and directs IDFPR to adopt rules for the use of teledentistry. 

Telehealth for Physical Therapy (PA 103-0849)

PA 103-0849 added Section 1.3 (225 ILCS 90/1.3) to the Illinois Physical Therapy Act. This section allows physical therapy through telehealth to address access issues to care, enhance care delivery, or increase the physical therapist’s ability to assess and direct a patient’s performance in the patient’s own environment, subject to the terms of the Illinois Telehealth Act and Insurance Code and to the following conditions:

• initial physical therapy evaluations without a referral or established diagnosis must be performed by a licensed physical therapist and are not allowed through telehealth unless necessary to address a documented hardship (such as geographical, physical or weather-related conditions)
• the use of telehealth as a primary means of physical therapy delivery must be an exception and documentation must support clinical justification
• the patient must be able to request and receive in-person care at any point during treatment
• the physical therapist must have the capacity to provide in-person care in Illinois.

PA 103-0849 will take effect on January 1, 2025.

For more information on this legislation, digital health or related issues, please contact attorney Rick Hindmand.