October 15, 2020 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has expanded the list of telehealth services that Medicare Fee-For-Service will pay for during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency (PHE).
CMS is also providing additional support to state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies in their efforts to expand access to telehealth.
For the first time using a new expedited process, CMS is adding 11 new services to the Medicare telehealth services list since the publication of the May 1, 2020, COVID-19 Interim Final Rule with comment period (IFC). Medicare will begin paying eligible practitioners who furnish these newly added telehealth services effective immediately, and for the duration of the PHE.
These new telehealth services include:
- Certain neurostimulator analysis and programming services
- Cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services.
Since the beginning of the public health emergency, CMS has added over 135 services to the Medicare telehealth services list – such as emergency department visits, initial inpatient and nursing facility visits, and discharge day management services.
With the latest action, Medicare will pay for 144 services performed via telehealth.