Over the past five months, Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have dramatically, but temporarily, expanded coverage and reimbursement for telehealth services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes are in effect for the duration of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Public Health Emergency (PHE). As there are significant […]
On August 3, 2020, President Trump signed Executive Order 13941 (the “Executive Order”) which expands access to certain telehealth services post-pandemic. The Executive Order focuses on telehealth access for individuals living in rural areas and implements the following mechanisms: The Secretary of HHS is tasked with developing a new model that will give rural providers flexibilities from […]
When Curtis Carlson started having back pain this spring, he tried to put off seeing a doctor. The COVID-19 pandemic was raging, his job at a transitional housing organization in Ukiah, Calif. was busier than ever amid the economic collapse, and a hospital seemed like the last place he wanted to be. But when he […]
On August 3, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed to permanently maintain some of the COVID-19 temporary expansions to the Medicare Telehealth List and will consider comments on other telehealth expansions. CMS already covered a limited number of medical and mental health services through telehealth. The secretary of Health and Human Services may […]
Telemedicine technology has become essential to healthcare delivery in the COVID-19 era, but concerns remain regarding whether the intimacy and communication that is central to high-quality palliative care will be compromised by the use of this technology. We employed a business model approach to identify the need for system innovation in palliative care, and a […]
We are facing a global healthcare crisis unlike any in our recent history. Within the span of a few short weeks, we saw our lives and practices drastically change. COVID-19 has fundamentally altered how medical care is delivered today and possibly for many years to come. We as clinicians need to rise to the challenge to provide […]
A new bill before Congress aims to increase funding for telehealth expansion programs that target improved broadband connectivity. The Accelerating Connected Care and Education Support Services on the Internet (ACCESS the Internet) Act, introduced this past week by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Cornyn (R-TX), proposes to add $400 million to Federal Communications Commission’s COVID-19 […]
Rightfully so, the coronavirus pandemic has shone the spotlight on front-line medical professionals who continue to risk their lives treating patients. In the background and often working from home, though, are billing professionals whose jobs increasingly provide critical revenue for medical facilities, from single physician practices to multi-hospital health systems. The American Hospital Association estimated […]
The need for virtual treatment in the midst of this pandemic is primed to rewrite the rulebook on health for years to come. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent nation-wide lockdowns, telehealth has been rewriting all the rules on the way healthcare has historically been conducted. Virtual health visits shot up 50% in […]
Not even six months ago, telemedicine served as a supplement to a hospital’s digital strategy. It was more of a novel offering, considered a nice-to-have or an add-on — not the norm — only used under rare and extraordinary circumstances. Of course, that was before a pandemic turned life, as we know it, on its […]
In its calendar year 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“MPFS”) proposed rule, released August 3, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has proposed to make permanent certain telehealth changes that have been implemented in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency (“PHE”). The proposals include: Permanent Telehealth Services Additions – Permanently adding certain services to the […]
While telehealth adoption has skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, the use of remote patient monitoring devices has also climbed among patients, signaling a shift that some physicians say points to the need for device insurance coverage, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Cardiology patients at Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network have been increasingly turning to remote monitoring devices […]
CY 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule On August 3, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Calendar Year (CY) 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule (PFS Proposed Rule). The agency’s proposals relating to telehealth and remote services are particularly noteworthy given the central role telehealth has taken in response to the […]
— Any meaningful reform will require action from congress While the Trump administration has asserted that an executive order and a proposed rule issued this week will expand access to telemedicine for all Americans, outside experts say such promises won’t be realized anytime soon. The executive branch lacks the needed authority on its own, they told MedPage Today, and the […]
President Trump issued an Executive Order (the “Order”) on August 3, 2020, to improve rural health and telehealth access. The Order tasks several federal agencies with developing new programs and plans to address longstanding federal barriers to fuller telehealth access in rural areas, including payments, infrastructure, and policy. According to the Order, the Centers for Medicare and […]
