Medicare beneficiaries will be able to access free at-home COVID-19 tests

The federal government announced that sometime in early spring, Medicare beneficiaries with Part B coverage and Medicare advantage members will be able to receive up to eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests per month for free.  The OTC tests must be FDA-approved and will be available through eligible pharmacies and other participating entities.

Until that time, free tests are still available via:  request for home delivery of four OTC tests from covidtests.gov, visiting a free testing site, at a lab that performs PCR tests and antigen tests ordered by a medical practitioner, pharmacist. 

In addition to accessing a COVID-19 lab test ordered by a healthcare professional, people with Medicare can also already access one lab-performed test without an order, also without cost sharing, during the public health emergency, CMS said.

Medicare Advantage plans may offer coverage and payment for over-the-counter COVID-19 tests as a supplemental benefit in addition to covering Medicare Part A and Part B benefits.

This entry was posted in Practice Management and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.