Telehealth services for Medicare and Medicaid recipients during COVID-19
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued temporary measures to make it easier for people enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid to receive medical care through telehealth services during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Services will continue until COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a public health emergency.
Some of these changes allow providers to:
- Conduct telehealth with patients located in any healthcare facility and in their homes
- Deliver care to both established and new patients through telehealth
- Bill for telehealth services (both video and audio-only) as if they were provided in person
- CMS will now allow for more than 80 additional services to be furnished via telehealth
Documentation requirements are the same as for any face-to-face patient encounter, with the addition of:
- A statement indicating the service was provided via telemedicine
- Patient location
- Provider location
- Names of all persons participating in the telemedicine service and their role in the encounter
- For time-based services, document start and stop time or total time
- Teaching physician may supervise by either in-person or through interactive telecommunications technology during key portion(s) of the service
Read additional Medicare and Medicaid general information on COVID-19.
