As of March 19, 2020, Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker passed executive order 2020-09 which expands telehealth services and protects health care providers in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The order expands the definition of telehealth services, regardless of location, through electronic or telephonic methods incuding FaceTime, Facebook Messenger video chat, Google Hangouts video, or Skype.
It also requires all health insurance issuers regulated by the Department of Insurance to cover the costs of all Telehealth Services rendered by in-network providers to deliver any clinically appropriate, medically necessary covered services and treatments. Issuers may establish reasonable requirements and parameters for Telehealth Services with regards to documentation and recordkeeping.
Telehealth Services may be provided by clinical social workers as long as they are licensed in the State of Illinois.
More details are laid out in the executive order which you can read in full by clicking here.
Most importantly right now, we need to continue our practice as social workers, whatever the medium, while adhering to the NASW Code of Ethics. As Frederic Reamer notes, it behooves social workers to know the updated NASW Code of Ethics (revised in 2017) and the revisions related to the increased use of technology. NASW, ASWB, CSWE, and CSWA also published Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice which may be worth reviewing.
Additional Resources
The national NASW has also provided a great resource for social workers on COVID-19 including topics on: helping people in special populations; self-care; preparing your practice; telehealth; supporting clients; ethical considerations; and more.