Billable Services Expand Under CMS Telehealth Waiver

On April 30, 2020, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it is waiving certain requirements of federal law which specify the types of practitioners that may bill for their services when furnished as Medicare telehealth services. The waiver of these requirements expands the types of health care professionals that can furnish telehealth services to include all those that are eligible to bill Medicare for their professional services. As a result, a broader range of practitioners, such as physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists can use telehealth to provide many Medicare services. By rule, unless otherwise indicated in the Tennessee workers’ compensation medical fee schedule regulations, the most recent, effective Medicare procedures and guidelines have been adopted by the Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and are effective upon implementation by CMS.

Additionally, CMS is modifying the process to add services to the Medicare telehealth services list and will consider adding appropriate services as they are requested. A complete list of all Medicare telehealth services can be found at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-General-Information/Telehealth/Telehealth-Codes.

The announcement by CMS can be found at https://www.cms.gov/files/document/covid-19-physicians-and-practitioners.pdf.