The Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation will conduct a “baseline” evaluation of telemedicine in 2019, along with updates of several ongoing studies, according to the Research and Evaluation Group Fiscal Year 2019 Research Agenda posted online Wednesday.

The agenda is the same as the division initially published in draft form on Sept. 28.

Telemedicine is a new area of research for the division. Earlier this year, the division removed a restriction in the Administrative Code that mirrored a Medicare policy and allowed telemedicine only in areas with documented shortages of health care professionals or outside urban areas.

The research agenda calls for “a baseline evaluation of medical services provided through telemedicine in the Texas workers’ compensation system, including medical utilization and costs of Medicare-approved services.”

Also on the research agenda:

• Publication of the 13th edition of the Workers’ Compensation Health Care Network Report Card.
• An update of return-to-work outcomes for injured workers.
• An update of medical costs and utilization in the workers’ compensation system, including an analysis of the impact of the state’s closed pharmacy formulary.