Telehealth Information

By Nicoleta Rahovan, CPC, CANPC – Lead Coder

On March 6, 2020 CMS broadened access to Medicare Telehealth services during COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). These guidelines are effective for DOS on and after March 1, 2020, until the end of the designated PHE. Providers can now provide the following services for new and established patients:

Telehealth services – use of two-way, real-time interactive audio/video telecommunication.

Virtual check-ins – brief (5-10 minutes) check-ins with a provider via telephone or other telecommunications device.

Telephone-only services – non face-to-face E&M services provided using telephone audio only.

It is critical to include the time of medical discussion in addition to complete documentation in order to get correctly reimbursed.