CMS adds 11 services to COVID-19 telehealth payment list

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday announced that it has expanded the list of telehealth services that Medicare will pay for during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Effective immediately, Medicare will begin paying eligible practitioners for 11 additional services delivered via telehealth, including certain cardiac rehabilitation and monitoring services.
 
In addition, CMS released a preliminary Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program data snapshot on telehealth utilization during the PHE. Among other findings, the snapshot showed that there have been more than 34.5 million services delivered via telehealth to Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries between March and June of this year, representing an increase of more than 2,600% when compared to the same period from the prior year.
 
CMS also released a new supplement to its State Medicaid & CHIP Telehealth Toolkit: Policy Considerations for States Expanding Use of Telehealth, COVID-19 Version to provide additional support to state Medicaid and CHIP agencies in their adoption and implementation of telehealth.