Tag Archives: telehealth

What We’re Reading – CMS Announces the Resumption of Medicare Audits

In a previous post, we announced that CMS would be resuming program integrity audits in August.  This recent article explained some additional details of their “short-lived hiatus.” Despite the continuing public health emergency (PHE), CMS did resume on August 3rd  … Read Full Post

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CMS Announced Significant Added MA Benefits for 2021

CMS announced numerous significant changes for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans that will positively impact members in 2021: MA membership is projected to be at an all-time high of 26.9 million, compared to 24.4 million in 2020. In 2021, beneficiaries with … Read Full Post

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Did You know….Medicare pays for High Intensity Behavioral Counseling?

High Intensity Behavioral Counseling (HIBC) is a program that promotes the reduction or avoidance of sexual risks.  It is tailored to the unique issues and needs of the patient, and includes education, skills training,  and, guidance on how to change … Read Full Post

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CMS Makes Changes to Telehealth Billing

This is a follow-up to an earlier blog about the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) expanded provisions for coverage of telehealth (TH) visits for Medicare beneficiaries. CMS recently added additional billing codes to its approved list, and clarified … Read Full Post

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What We’re Reading – Primary Care Remains Weakened in Fight Against COVID-19

All industries are being affected by COVID-19, from print companies and retail to hospitality and healthcare. We came across this article that shows that primary care, four months into this pandemic, continues to weaken based on a physician survey with … Read Full Post

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You Might Be Owed Money for Telehealth Visits

Depending on when you accessed CMS’s telehealth billing guidelines, you may have submitted claims using a Place of Service (POS) of “02” regardless of where you rendered the service instead of POS 11 if in the office.  CMS recently announced … Read Full Post

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Did You Know… Medicare Pays for Counseling for Smoking Cessation

A staggering amount of research shows the detrimental effects smoking can have on a person’s health, and public service announcements abound on this topic.  Some providers may not know that Medicare is also on this bandwagon and pays for PCPs … Read Full Post

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What We’re Reading – Overcoming Telehealth Reimbursement Risks

The advantageous use of technology to successfully treat and manage patients in a world that restricts physical consults to prevent the spread of the virus has served both patients and physicians. However, as explained in this article, telehealth’s quick implementation … Read Full Post

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Did You Know…Medicare pays for Alcohol Mis-Use Screening & Counseling?

We all understand that mis-use of alcohol can lead to significant issues, but not many providers know that CMS will pay them to conduct a 15-minute patient screening to identify any mis-use of alcohol and, if found, to deliver up … Read Full Post

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What We’re Reading – McKinsey Analysis: Up to $250B of Healthcare Could Be Virtualized

This article summarized an analysis of the growth in telehealth done by McKinsey & Company, which as we know, has been exponential due to the COVID-19 crisis.  The article noted that providers are seeing 50 to 175 times the number … Read Full Post

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