Telehealth Reimbursement

Telehealth Billing Largely Met Medicare Requirements During Pandemic

February 21, 2024 - Healthcare providers met Medicare requirements when billing for most evaluation and management (E/M) services provided via telehealth, a new federal report shows. Released this month by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the report aimed to determine whether physicians and other healthcare...


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Patient Care, Policy & More: A Look at This Year’s Virtual Care Trends

by Anuja Vaidya

In many ways, 2023 was a year of reckoning for virtual care. From sky-high funding and clinical promises verging on hyperbole to bankruptcy filings and an ongoing patient preference for in-person care, virtual care stakeholders had to...

Understanding Asynchronous Telehealth’s Benefits and Barriers to Use

by Anuja Vaidya

With the unprecedented rise in telehealth utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became increasingly clear that it was not a passing phase. Though usage rates have dropped since the pandemic’s peak, telehealth has become...

Audio-Only Telehealth Frequently Used for Behavioral Healthcare

by Anuja Vaidya

An analysis of claims data shows that audio-only telehealth services are most commonly used to address behavioral healthcare needs. In a new study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers examined...

Stakeholders Urge Senators to Avert ‘Fast and Slow’ Death of Telehealth

by Anuja Vaidya

Earlier this week, a United States Senate subcommittee heard testimonials from a group of healthcare leaders on the importance of making permanent regulatory flexibilities supporting expanded...

New PFS Rule Includes Telehealth Payment, Address Reporting Wins

by Anuja Vaidya

Though the newly released 2024 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final rule did not bring good news for all in the healthcare industry, telehealth proponents garnered some critical wins. Effective on or...

Half of US States Reimburse for 4 Common Forms of Virtual Care

by Anuja Vaidya

Though all 50 states and Washington, D.C., provide reimbursement for some form of live video-based telehealth within their Medicaid programs, only 25 provide Medicaid reimbursement for live video as...

Private Insurance Payments Similar for Telehealth, In-Person Claims

by Anuja Vaidya

Like in 2020, private insurer payments for telehealth claims were similar to in-person claims in 2021, with payments ranging from $43 to $299 for patient evaluation and management and mental health...

Age, Residence Type, and Practice Setting Affect Telehealth Use

by Mark Melchionna

A new study found that telehealth use increased between 2019 and 2021. Various patient- and provider-level factors such as age, area of residence, and type of provider practice setting had a...

MedPAC: Lower Telehealth Payments to Pre-Pandemic Facility Rates

by Anuja Vaidya

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its 2023 report to Congress last week, in which it made numerous recommendations, including returning to the pre-pandemic lower facility rate...

Telehealth Payment Parity Laws Boosted Odds of Virtual Care Visits

by Anuja Vaidya

States with telehealth payment parity laws had a 23 percent higher likelihood of telehealth use among residents compared to states that did not implement these laws, according to a new...

Medicaid Coverage Linked to Rise in Telehealth Use, Healthcare Access

by Anuja Vaidya

Medicaid coverage of telehealth services between 2013 and 2019 was associated with significant increases in telehealth use and healthcare access, but private insurer coverage of telehealth during the...

HHS: How the End of the PHE Will Impact Telehealth Flexibilities

by Anuja Vaidya

Today marks the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), bringing changes to telehealth flexibilities enacted amid the pandemic. On May 11, the Department for Health and Human Services (HHS)...

HHS-OIG Releases Toolkit for Assessing Telehealth Billing Risks

by Anuja Vaidya

A newly released federal toolkit aims to help healthcare stakeholders analyze their telehealth claims data to assess program integrity risks. Released last week by the US Department of Health and...

How Telehealth Policy is Evolving at the State Level

by Anuja Vaidya

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred telehealth use to new heights, with policy changes and flexibilities enacted at the state and federal levels supporting the rapid integration of telehealth into routine care delivery. But now, with the public...

New Bill Aims to Make Telehealth an Excepted Employee Benefit

by Anuja Vaidya

A new bipartisan bill aims to enable employers to offer standalone telehealth programs — like dental and visions plans — in addition to traditional medical health plans. Introduced in the...

Bilingual Staff Improve Telehealth Experience in Safety-Net Settings

by Anuja Vaidya

Bilingual personnel and offering audio-only visits were essential for making telehealth visits more efficient and improving the virtual care experience for patients in community health centers, a new...

Pressure on Congress to Solidify Telehealth Access Builds  

by Anuja Vaidya

Congressional leaders have received two new letters urging them to make certain telehealth flexibilities permanent: one from legislators and another from a slew of telehealth stakeholders. On Jan. 28,...

American Telemedicine Association Launches New Advocacy Group

by Anuja Vaidya

As policymakers consider the numerous telehealth bills placed before them, a new advocacy organization has entered the scene: ATA Action. Launched by the American Telemedicine Association, the new...

Doctors Outside US Cannot Bill Medicare for Telehealth, Court Confirms   

by Anuja Vaidya

A telehealth company's attempt to strike down a decision stating that virtual care physicians who are outside of the U.S. are not eligible for Medicare reimbursement was dismissed by a federal...

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