CMS Update about Telemedicine

March 31, posted on NANOSnet

Date:    Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:35:11 -0400

From:    Kevin Lai

Subject: CMS update on Telemedicine billing

Based off e-mail bulletin received today (3/31/2020):

Billing for Professional Telehealth Services During the Public Health Emergency

Building on prior action to expand reimbursement for telehealth services to Medicare beneficiaries, CMS will now allow for more than 80 additional services to be furnished via telehealth. When billing professional claims for non-traditional telehealth services with dates of services on or after March 1, 2020, and for the duration of the Public Health Emergency (PHE), bill with the Place of Service (POS) equal to what it would have been in the absence of a PHE, along with a modifier 95, indicating that the service rendered was actually performed via telehealth. As a reminder, CMS is not requiring the "CR" modifier on telehealth services. However, consistent with current rules for traditional telehealth services, there are two scenarios where modifiers are required on Medicare telehealth professional claims:

   - Furnished as part of a federal telemedicine demonstration project in  Alaska and Hawaii using asynchronous (store and forward) technology, use GQ   modifier

   - Furnished for diagnosis and treatment of an acute stroke, use G0   modifier

Traditional Medicare telehealth services professional claims should reflect the designated POS code 02-Telehealth, to indicate the billed service was furnished as a professional telehealth service from a distant site. There is no change to the facility/non-facility payment differential applied based on POS. Claims submitted with POS code 02 will continue to pay at the facility rate.

There are no billing changes for institutional claims; critical access hospital method II claims should continue to bill with modifier GT.