House Health Care panel weighs S.28 telehealth abortion pathway, pharmacy label privacy

MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont House Committee on Health Care on April 4 considered S.28, a bill “relating to access to certain legally protected health care services,” focusing on two linked issues: a provision that would permit patients to obtain medication abortion through an asynchronous telehealth visit using an adaptive questionnaire, and a separate provision directing how prescriber information appears on dispensed prescriptions for legally protected care.

Advocates and providers told the committee the asynchronous-adaptive approach could create a safer, confidential option for people experiencing reproductive coercion. Charlie Glesserman, policy director at the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, told the committee that “asynchronous telehealth care through an adaptive questionnaire provides survivors with an option when a call or real time chat with a provider is not safe. This timely, confidential care can support survivors in accessing reproductive health care they need when they need it.”

The committee debated two technical but consequential drafting issues: language that would allow delegation of clinical tasks “by any combination of training, experience, education, or…