Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 26, 2023 13 Building Ideas That Work... Building Ideas That Work... Contact us at 860.482.7613 or visit us at BorghesiBuilding.com 2155 East Main Street Torrington, Connecticut 06790 © 2011 BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Butler Manufacturing ™ is a division of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. With "Public Works" budgets being so tight, many towns have turned to Borghesi Building & Engineering Co., Inc. for help in leading the team to marry the budget with design and technology. In turn, we provide an efficient, practical building that "works" for the town. Providing quality and reliability with design and energy efficient construction. With over 80 years of experience our processes will help your dream to be realized. BARKHAMSTED HIGHWAY GARAGE HARWINTON GARAGE WATERFORD PUBLIC WORKS Dr. Jasdeep Sidana (left) poses with staff members in front of the new DOCSNow virtual urgent care center in downtown New Haven. HBJ PHOTO | MICHELLE TUCCITTO SULLO The idea is to be able to reach out to your provider whenever you are in need, said Hoffman, who predicts virtual healthcare technology will continue to advance. "The technology will go even further," Hoffman said. "So, much more can be done, and we will harness technology to provide treat- ment and care wherever." Debating rules, regulations Lawmakers are still sorting out rules and regulations surrounding telehealth. Patients can visit several websites to access virtual care, such as through New York-based Teladoc Health. State lawmakers this session debated a bill that would allow out-of- state healthcare providers to provide telehealth services in the state on a permanent basis. It passed through the Public Health Committee and received significant attention and reaction from the healthcare industry, but the legisla- ture didn't take action on it by the end of the session. State Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey (D-Fairfield), co-chair of the Public Health Committee, said it will be taken up again in the next legislative session. "One thing we all agree on is ensuring that people have access to telehealth," McCarthy Vahey said. "It is an issue of equity and prevention. There was more to the conversation than we could get to in this session." Layne Gakos, executive director of the Connecticut State Medical Society, submitted public hearing testimony indicating that the society is generally supportive of telehealth, but objected to allowing out-of-state providers to offer telehealth services in the state on a permanent basis. The proposal, according to Gakos, would "open the flood gates of unlicensed, unregulated healthcare providers providing telehealth to Connecticut's patients." Melissa Meyers, CEO of Gener- ations Family Health Center Inc., submitted testimony in favor of the bill, as the center has locations throughout eastern Connecticut and employs providers based in Massa- chusetts and Rhode Island. "Since the pandemic began, tele- health has become a key component to the delivery of accessible health care in our region, and is often the only care accessible to local resi- dents who do not have transporta- tion," she said. "Many of our medical and behavioral healthcare providers conduct the telehealth visits from their homes, when they are working outside of the office, and those homes are out‐of‐state." As lawmakers debate the rules governing telehealth, healthcare providers will need to keep up with regulations to avoid running afoul of them. In December, Sidana and his practice reached a $4.2 million civil settlement agreement with the state and federal governments to resolve allegations of improper medical billing. The government asserted that Sidana and his businesses submitted claims for services that were not medically necessary, were not properly supervised by a physi- cian, and were allegedly performed by Sidana when he was out of the country. Cristin McCarthy Vahey

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