On December 14, the U.S. District Court for the Western District
of Texas ruled in favor of Teladoc, Inc. by denying the Texas
Medical Board'smotion to dismiss Teladoc's antitrust suit
against the Board.
Teladoc, the largest telemedicine service provider in the U.S.,
filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the Board in April 2015,
as discussed
here. Teladoc's complaint alleged, among other things, that
the Board's Rule 174, requiring an initial in-person meeting
between a patient and a physician before the patient and physician
can interact remotely by videoconference, violates Section 1 of the
Sherman Act.
The court's latest ruling rejected each of the Board's
arguments and denied the Board's motion to dismiss
Teladoc's suit. The court, following a recent U.S. Supreme
Court case (discussed here), also ruled that the Board's actions
were not protected by sovereign immunity because the State of Texas
lacks sufficient control over the Board.
According to a Teladoc press release, this latest ruling is the
seventh time in the last four years that various Texas courts have
ruled in favor of Teladoc against the Board.
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