The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:

(1)  The advancements and continued development of medical and communications technology have had a profound impact on the practice of medicine and offer opportunities for improving the delivery, cost, and accessibility of health care, particularly in the area of telemedicine.

(2)  Geography, weather, availability of specialists, transportation, and other factors can create barriers to accessing the appropriate health care, including behavioral health care, and one way to provide, ensure, or enhance access to health care given these barriers is through the appropriate use of technology to allow healthcare consumers access to qualified healthcare providers.

(3)  There is a need in this state to embrace efforts that will encourage health insurers and healthcare providers to support the use of telemedicine, and that will also encourage all state agencies to evaluate and amend their policies and rules to remove any regulatory barriers prohibiting the use of telemedicine services.