Health Information Compliance Alert

On Oct. 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it was continuing its pro-telehealth push with more options to help providers during the pandemic.

“For the first time using a new expedited process, CMS is adding 11 new services to the Medicare telehealth services list since the publication of the May 1, 2020, COVID-19 Interim Final Rule with comment period (IFC),” says the agency in a release. Since the expansion is already effective, eligible providers can expect payment for the new options immediately and through the duration of the pandemic. “These new telehealth services include certain neurostimulator analysis and programming services, and cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services,” CMS says.

Reminder: With the publication of two interim final rules in March and May, CMS already significantly expanded the telehealth services list, including options like emergency care, nursing home visits, and physical therapy. If you add the 11 new services to the already lengthy expansion list, Medicare will now reimburse eligible clinicians for 144 different telehealth services.

Plus: A whopping 12.1 million beneficiaries have received Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) care through the expansion, the release suggests.

Review both current telehealth services and the recent additions at: www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-General-Information/Telehealth/Telehealth-Codes.