The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has introduced a new crop of temporary regulatory flexibilities in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) in the form of new blanket waivers, implementing guidance related to provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Support Act (CARES Act) regarding rural health clinics (RHCs) and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), as well as a new interim final rule (April IFC). This flurry of new guidance comes exactly one month after CMS published an interim final rule on March 30 (March IFC). The new guidance sets forth a historic expansion of telehealth services by fully expanding the list of permissible telehealth providers, significantly broadening the availably of audio-only telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries, among other significant telehealth expansions. The new blanket waivers and the April IFC (except as otherwise specifically designated) are retroactively effective as of March 1, 2020.
This article discusses the telehealth waivers and flexibilities in this most recent guidance from CMS aimed at making health care available to Medicare beneficiaries in a manner that keeps both providers and patients safe during the PHE.
Expanded List of Eligible Telehealth Practitioners
A long awaited change is here! Now, for the duration of the COVID-19 PHE, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists, along with all others eligible to bill Medicare for professional services, may furnish distant site Medicare telehealth services. Prior to this blanket waiver, only physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other specified providers could deliver Medicare covered telehealth services. The new blanket waiver removes these restrictions. However, practitioners must still adhere to applicable state law practice and licensure requirements when performing telehealth services.
Audio-Only Telehealth Elevated
In the March IFC, CMS established separate payment for audio-only telephone E/M services, specifically including CPT codes 99441, 99442, and 99443. In response to stakeholder feedback that the use of these codes is more widespread than CMS expected—as well as CMS’s realization that the audio-only visits are appropriate for a higher intensity of service than initially anticipated—CMS is:
- waiving the required use of video technology, and is allowing the use of audio-only equipment to furnish services described by the codes for audio-only telephone evaluation and management services (E/M), and behavioral health counseling and educational services (the list of the designated audio-only codes can be found here); and
- increasing reimbursement for CPT codes 99441, 99442, and 99443 to more closely align with reimbursement for similar office visits.
Codes that may be billed without satisfying the interactive video requirement will have a notation in the telehealth code list indicating that audio-only is appropriate. The ability to receive these increased payment rates is retroactive to March 1, 2020. Also, while the code descriptors refer to an “established patient,” CMS is exercising its enforcement discretion during the PHE to relax the requirement that the audio-only services be limited to established patients. CMS reminds practitioners that the cost-sharing obligations are still applicable to these telehealth services in cases where the practitioner is not appropriately waiving the cost-sharing obligations.
Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) May Furnish Periodic Assessments via Telephone
Pursuant to the April IFC, during the PHE CMS is allowing OTP periodic assessments to be furnished via two-way interactive audio-video communication technology and, in cases where beneficiaries do not have access to two-way audio-video communications technology, the periodic assessments may be furnished using audio-only telephone calls, provided all other applicable requirements are met. CMS expects that OTPs will use clinical judgment to determine whether they can adequately perform the periodic assessment with audio-only phone calls, and if not, then they should perform the assessment using two-way interactive audio-video communication technology or in person as clinically appropriate. Regardless of the format that is used, the OTP should document in the medical record the reason for the assessment and the substance of the assessment.
Medicare Coverage of RHCs and FQHCs Provided Telehealth
Previously, RHCs and FQHCs were not able to be paid by Medicare for telehealth services as a distant site. However, as required by the CARES Act, Medicare will now cover and reimburse telehealth services provided by RHCs and FQHCs from January 27, 2020 through the duration of the PHE. The key flexibilities afforded to RHCs and FQHCs include:
- Any telehealth service listed in the Medicare telehealth code list may be provided by the RHC/FQHC practitioners and the RHC/FQHC must use HCPCS code G2025 to identify the services being provided via telehealth;
- Effective March 6, 2020, patients may be at any site, including their home;
- The services can be furnished by any health care practitioner working for the RHC or FQHC within their scope of practice; and
- The practitioners can furnish the telehealth services from any distant site location, including their homes, during the time they are working for the RHC or FQHC.
CMS released detailed guidance on (a) claims submission requirements for RHCs/FQHCs; (b) how CMS will go about reprocessing and paying claims; (c) the timing of processing; (d) special billing rules and requirements related to cost-sharing waivers; and, (e) other important information that RHCs and FQHCs should review in advance of billing for any telehealth services. CMS set a payment rate for these claims at $92.03 (average amount of all telehealth services on the telehealth service list, weighted by volume), which will be reassessed if the PHE extends beyond the end of the year. CMS hopes these changes will increase access to care for beneficiaries in rural and underserved areas.
Hospital Billing and Facility Fee Reimbursement for Outpatient and Home Settings
Now hospitals may bill for telehealth services furnished by hospital-based physicians to patients registered as hospital outpatients, including when patients are at home, provided the home is serving as a temporary provider-based department of the hospital. CMS stated that the March IFC did not specifically address billing for hospital outpatients. CMS also reminded providers that reasons for the visit must be documented in the patient’s medical record. As such, hospitals can bill for both the distant site provider fee and the originating site facility fee for telehealth services rendered by hospital-based practitioners, even for patients at home.
New Telehealth Code Approval Procedure
Ordinarily CMS adds codes to the telehealth code list as part of its annual rule making. CMS is now changing its process to allow for the addition of new telehealth codes to the designated Medicare telehealth code list on a sub-regulatory basis, without the need for notice and comment. This will allow for faster and perhaps more frequent additions to the telehealth codes list and scope of Medicare telehealth benefit. However, any codes added to the list during this time period will remain on the list only during the COVID-19 PHE.
Time-Based Level Selection for E/M Telehealth
In the March IFC, CMS allowed for the E/M level selection for office/outpatient E/M services furnished via telehealth can be based on medical decision-making or time for the duration of the PHE. In doing so, CMS referenced typical times associated with E/M services in the Medicare public use file. However, the times in the public use file do not always align with the typical times included in the office/outpatient E/M code descriptors, causing confusion in the physician community. CMS resolved this confusion in the April IFC by revising its policy to clarify that the times listed in the CPT code descriptor should be used.
Loosened Remote Physiological Monitoring (RPM) Billing Requirements
Historically, RPM service described by CPT code 99454 could not be reported for monitoring of fewer than 16 days during a 30-day period. However, in the April IFC, acknowledging that many patients with COVID-19 who need remote patient monitoring do not need to be monitored for a full 16 days, CMS, for the duration of the PHE, is allowing RPM services to be reported for periods of time that are fewer than 16 days of 30 days, but no less than 2 days, as long as the other requirements for billing the code are met. CMS emphasized that payment for when monitoring lasts for fewer than 16 days of 30 days, but no less than 2 days, is limited to patients who have a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19.
Inclusion of Telehealth and Virtual Care in ACO Primary Care Services
For the duration of the COVID 19 PHE, for purposes of the Medicare Shared Savings Program, CMS is revising the definition of primary care services used in the program’s assignment methodology, for performance year starting on January 1, 2020, to include remote evaluation of patient video/images, virtual check-ins, e-visits, telephone evaluation and management services and telehealth.
What’s Next?
The breadth of these changes and speed at which they have been made undoubtedly illustrates CMS’s view of telehealth as a key tool in addressing the COVID-19 PHE. The question that remains is which of these changes will have staying power beyond the PHE and will industry supporters finally have their day when telehealth is simply an equal choice or option among others in health care delivery.
For additional web-based resources available to assist you in monitoring the spread of the coronavirus on a global basis, you may wish to visit the websites of the CDC and the World Health Organization.
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