71-8502.

Legislative findings.

The Legislature finds that:

(1) Access to health care facilities and health care practitioners is critically important to the citizens of Nebraska;

(2) Access to a continuum of health care services is restricted in some medically underserved areas of Nebraska, and many health care practitioners in such areas are isolated from mentors, colleagues, and information resources necessary to support them personally and professionally;

(3) The use of telecommunications technology to deliver health care services can reduce health care costs, improve health care quality, improve access to health care, and enhance the economic health of communities in medically underserved areas of Nebraska; and

(4) The full potential of delivering health care services through telehealth cannot be realized without the assurance of payment for such services and the resolution of existing legal and policy barriers to such payment.