Health Care At Stake: Senate Committee Prompts Louisiana Medical Board To Widen Patient Access

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee of Louisiana is accusing the state medical board of obstructing patient access to medical marijuana.

“The panel called on the attorney for the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners (LSBME) to testify at a State Capitol meeting due to the board’s refusal to allow physicians to recommend medical marijuana via telemedicine without in-person visits," according to local media reports.

According to the Louisiana Illuminator, during a meeting of the Medical Marijuana Commission in September, LSBME executive director Dr. Vincent Culotta noted the board was making doctors set in-person appointments for patients seeking medical marijuana “despite a new law approved earlier this year that allows virtual visits.”

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“Where the problem comes is that telemedicine (...) encompasses many statutory requirements,” LSBME executive counsel Patricia Wilton said. Among the requirements is a statute that determines physicians shall not prescribe a controlled dangerous substance without conducting an in-person examination first.

According to lawmakers, the statute Wilton referred to applies to the prescription of controlled dangerous substances, not the “recommendation” of marijuana.

Senator Fred Mills said marijuana can only be recommended, not prescribed. They also pointed to legislation that enables the medical board to decide whether it wants to apply the in-person visit requirement for any drug.

Mills and Senator Patrick McMath asked the LSBME to rewrite the rules to end the in-person visit requirement for accessing medical cannabis.

“Knowing the intent of the law, why wouldn’t you go back and write the rule?” Mills asked.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash.