Good news: Telehealth received a stay of execution yesterday!

As the COVID19 emergency provisions allowing for telehealth in the PA MMJ program expired yesterday, we thought that telehealth was a goner. However, at the 11th hour, the state legislature passed (and Gov. Wolf signed) HB 854, a bill that extends all of the regulatory suspensions and waivers put in place by the state’s emergency declaration. Therefore, all of those temporary provisions, including the use of telehealth in the PA MMJ Program, will be extended until September 30, 2021.

-In the meantime, our hope is that the state legislature is able to get their act together and pass a bill that would add telehealth (as well as the other temporary provisions that we’ve grown accustomed to) to Act 16 (the Medical Marijuana Act). There is such a bill — HB 1024 — that has been passed in the state House, and is currently in the Law and Justice Committee in the Senate. We will continue to monitor its progression.