Majority Leader Aguiar-Curry Bill Expanding Telehealth under Medi-Cal Passes Assembly Floor

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D- Winters) announced today that her Assembly Bill 2339 passed the Assembly Floor with a resounding bipartisan vote. AB 2339 will expand telehealth access to sensitive services, including sexual and reproductive health care, for Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

Asynchronous telehealth, like app-based services, allows for remote communication between providers and patients, which can reduce waiting times and facilitate faster access to patient-centered care. Studies have shown high rates of safety, effectiveness, and patient acceptability for asynchronous care, comparable to approval rates for in-person care. Asynchronous care can alleviate technological barriers, scheduling constraints, and privacy concerns. Today, Californians who have private insurance benefit from using convenient apps because these asynchronous telehealth options are covered under private health plans. However, beneficiaries of Medi-Cal are barred from accessing the same telehealth options.

“In 2022, I authored AB 32, the most far-reaching telehealth legislation in the country, to expand access to telehealth services for all Californians. My intention was clear: Medi-Cal was to expand on the telehealth options available to Medi-Cal Patients,” said Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters). “Policies that treat Medi-Cal patients as second-class Californians are wrong, and we owe it to them to provide the same access to care enjoyed by their privately-insured neighbors. These apps will result in healthier patients, allowing working Californians, who can ill-afford to miss work to care for themselves or their children, to access their care in the most convenient possible way.”

“Medi-Cal patients across California—including the more than one million seen by Planned Parenthood providers each year—must have equitable access to essential health care services via telehealth. PPAC is proud to co-sponsor AB 2339 to help improve Medi-Cal patients’ access to typically out-of-reach care, preserve their right to choose how they access care, and ensure consistency in state law with existing policies for other telehealth services.”

AB 2339 would expand access to sensitive health services provided using asynchronous modalities, like apps, for Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The bill would also authorize a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using asynchronous telehealth, when requested by the patient for sensitive services. Allowing Medi-Cal beneficiaries to access this form of care will provide equal access to asynchronous telehealth services and give Medi-Cal beneficiaries the same convenient care as their peers with private insurance.

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Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry represents the 4th Assembly District, which includes all of Lake, Colusa, Napa, and Yolo Counties and part of Sonoma County.