April 30, 2020
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Issues Second Round of Regulatory Waivers and Rule Changes Including Additional Flexibilities for Telehealth
Today, CMS released the Interim Final Rule with Comment titled “Additional Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency and Delay of Certain Reporting Requirements for the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program,” along with announcing additional flexibilities, including the continuation of efforts to further expand Medicare beneficiaries’ access to telehealth services.
These changes include:
- Increasing payments for audio-only telephone visits to match payments for similar office and outpatient visits (currently from a range of about $14 - $41 to about $46 - $110) retroactive to March 1.
- Waiving the video requirement for certain telephone evaluation and management services and adding them to the list of Medicare telehealth services. As a result, Medicare beneficiaries will be able to use an audio-only telephone to get these services.
Additional materials are available at these links: