Physician offices across the country are rescheduling routine care clinic visits in an effort to protect patients, healthcare providers and workforce. The government is working to remove obstacles that would interfere with transitioning these clinic visits to telehealth services. On Tuesday, March 17, 2020, Medicare announced that it will reimburse physicians and other certain healthcare […]
MLN Booklet TELEHEALTH SERVICES ICN MLN901705 March 2020 Target Audience: Medicare Fee-For-Service Providers The Hyperlink Table, at the end of this document, provides the complete URL for each hyperlink. TABLE OF CONTENTS Originating Sites………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 Distant Site Practitioners……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 Telehealth Services……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 Telehealth Services Billing and Payment………………………………………………………………………………. 7 Telehealth Originating Sites Billing and Payment………………………………………………………………….. 8 […]
Recent waivers by CMS that allow for limited digital communication with patients have triggered a wave of questions. Here are our answers to the ones we hear most often. APTA is receiving many questions about the recent regulatory waivers announced by CMS related to digital communication between providers and patients, particularly regarding e-visits and the […]
CMS on March 20 released two digital toolkits on telehealth complete with resources specific to general practitioners as well as providers treating patients with end-stage renal disease. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the U.S., the Trump administration has implemented several initiatives to increase telehealth services to avoid the spread of the disease. In addition […]
As federal officials continue to urge Americans – particularly older adults – to stay in their homes to stem the spread of the coronavirus, President Donald Trump on Tuesday said telehealth options for Medicare recipients are being expanded and made easier to take advantage of. “Medicare patients can now visit any doctor by phone or video […]
The federal government is stripping away barriers to Medicare telehealth coverage as a frontline response to the coronavirus outbreak, which feeds on person-to-person contact and has proven deadliest for elderly individuals. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma announced the temporary coverage expansion in a mid-day White House news conference Tuesday held by […]
On March 13, 2020, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation declaring a national emergency concerning the novel coronavirus disease (the “Emergency Declaration”). The president framed the emergency declaration as empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to waive “laws to enable telehealth,” which gave providers hope that the administration would remove some of the primary […]
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced an emergency expansion of telehealth coverage for Medicare beneficiaries amid the COVID-19 outbreak, removing multiple regulatory barriers to doctors providing remote care for nursing home residents. Retroactive to March 6, Medicare can pay for virtual consultations provided through telehealth platforms across the country, including those conducted in a patient’s […]
On March 6, 2020, the president signed into law H.R. 6074, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act (“Act”). This law provides $8.3 billion in emergency funding for federal agencies to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. In addition, the law allows the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“Secretary”) to […]
As the novel coronavirus outbreak continues, the federal government and commercial health insurers have taken significant steps to increase Americans’ access to treatment and testing. In the past week, the federal government and private insurers have issued a number of guidance documents expanding coverage and payment requirements in an effort to minimize the spread of […]
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a bulletin reiterating the ways that patient information may be shared under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rule in an outbreak of infectious disease or other emergency situation. The bulletin serves as a reminder that […]
Monday, March 9, 2020 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released several fact sheets on COVID-19 coverage and benefits, and announced a second Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code, U0002, for billing COVID-19 diagnostic tests. Medicare will accept claims with U0001 and U0002 starting on April 1, 2020, for dates of service […]
The U.S. Centers for Health & Human Services (CMS) has issued guidelines for protecting health care workers who operate in the home and community from COVID-19, including hospice providers. The CMS materials contain guidance for screening for and treatment of the virus in addition to when patients should be transitioned to higher acuity care. The agency recommended […]